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Richie Montague
Introduction
This article forwards the view that sectarian interface violence is a form
of hate crime as provided for within the Criminal Justice (No.2) (NI)
Order 2004. Hate crimes are formally recognised by the Police Service
of Northern Ireland (PSNI) as “any incident, which may or may not
constitute a criminal offence, which is perceived by the victim as being
motivated by prejudice or hate” (PSNI 2010: 3). Antagonistic behaviour
at interfaces across Belfast, however, is conceived by some stakeholders (particularly community workers and members of statutory organisations) as not being motivated by hatred per se, but by other factors
such as boredom and the desire for thrills. To this end, this article draws
from qualitative interviews with stakeholders, gathered during the author’s doctoral study on hate crime in Belfast. Stakeholders suggest that
hate or prejudice is not always the key factor driving the commission of
criminal acts witnessed at interfaces. Such views advocate the contested
‘recreational rioting’ conception of interface disturbances (Jarman and
O’Halloran 2001: 2). This shows that there are contrasting views on interface violence in Belfast and demonstrates how such violence is arguably being diluted in definition as anti-social behaviour - and therefore
not treated as sectarian crime. The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 formalised the term ‘anti-social behaviour’ and defined it in law as “acting in a
manner that caused or was likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress
to one or more persons not of the same household” (Home Office 2011:
7). Sectarian interface violence may well be a form of anti-social behaviour, as a deviant act contrary to wider social norms within post-conflict
Northern Ireland. But it is also underpinned by pernicious notions of
difference and hostility towards the ‘Other’.
To explore this proposition further, the proceeding sections of this article
empirically explore conceptions of sectarian interface violence as either
hate crime or anti-social behaviour. What makes hate crime unique from
anti-social behaviour is that that the former has the potential to create