HATE CRIME – CRIMINOLOGICAL AND LEGAL ASPECTS
Abstract: In the introductory part, the authors emphasized that the hate crime, although incriminated only in the 20th century, existed throughout the entire human history. Also, the introductory part gives an overview of the first laws relating to the crime of hatred. In the next part of the article, special attention is paid to the theoretical determination of this form of crime of violence. As the prevalence of hate crimes is a phenomenological data, the authors presented the results of the criminological studies on the prevalence of hate crimes in the United States. The hate crime is not a uniform form of crime of violence, and it is necessary to process its forms of manifestation, which the authors have done in the next part of the article. Consequences of hate crimes are expressed to a great extent in victims of hate crimes. Therefore, the next part of the paper is dedicated to the consequences of hate crimes. The last part of the article refers to legal solutions to hatred as a compulsory aggravating circumstance in the Republic of Serbia, giving an account of those crimes in which hatred is one of the elements of the being of the criminal offense. At the same time, in this part of the paper, the authors presented the results of the research on the application of Article 54a of the Criminal Code in the courts in Niš and Novi Sad.
Keywords: hate crime, criminological aspect, criminal law aspect