Incidents of racism have long been documented within the UK and have garnered substantial attention within both academic discourse and media platforms. However, the experiences of corner-shop owners, within this context, is comparatively underrepresented in academic discourse. This research aims to explore experiences of racism by South Asian corner-shop owners and its effects on their businesses and potential entrepreneurs. This is important due to the indispensable role that corner-shops play in providing essential services to local communities across the UK. Using semi-structured interviews, this study delves into the experiences of 11 South Asian corner-shop owners situated in Northamptonshire. Findings reveal a prevalent occurrence of physical and verbal abuse among the majority of participants. The discriminatory encounters narrated by participants were observed to evoke feelings of grief and resentment, consequently fostering a reluctance to continue in the business. Implications of these findings extend beyond the individual experiences of corner-shop owners, it extends to the economy, the CJS, and ethnic minority business owners within the UK. This study emphasizes the obligation for proactive measures to address and mitigate issues of hate-crimes targeting corner-shop owners, safeguarding both their livelihoods and the integrity of the communities they serve.

Following three decades of armed conflict, the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in 2009. The victory was framed as a successful counterterrorism operation, yet, the GoSL’s military campaign in the Tamil-populated Northern and Eastern Provinces of Sri Lanka, faces credible allegations of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. As the armed conflict reached its apex, the Tamil diaspora mobilised politically across the globe and the participation of younger generation Tamils (YGTs), namely those who were born outside their parents’ country of origin, or had settled outside of their ancestral homeland as children, caught the attention of scholars and analysts. Within this small pool of literature, the pervasive and problematic counterterrorism-inspired concept of ‘radicalisation’ surfaced. This paper contributes to critical debates on terrorism, by analysing the cursory application of a radicalisation framework to the political mobilisation and perspectives of YGTs. Based on critical ethnographic research on YGT activism in the London diaspora, this paper provides an alternative to criminalising and marginalising approaches, by utilising an emotion-based conceptual framework derived from social movement studies, to unearth and understand the complex mechanisms, contexts, and processes surrounding their political mobilisation.

A significant body of scholarly inquiry has sought to elucidate the spatial distribution of hate crimes in the United States and illuminate how this distribution varies by the race/ethnicity of the victim. This research has drawn upon the defended neighborhood hypothesis, proposing that racial hate crimes should occur in predominantly White areas to “defend” the community. Other studies have built upon the power-differential hypothesis, suggesting that in places with a larger share of the minority group, the dominant group becomes more fearful of acting on their bias. However, these research attempts, and the utility of the theoretical frameworks, have been largely impeded by their reliance on official data, which fails to adequately untangle the interplay between social context and the racial and ethnic background of the victim. The objective of this study is to rectify these shortcomings. Firstly, we employ the restricted version of the 2005-2015 National Crime Victimization Survey, which captures crimes often underreported and underrecorded in official statistics. Secondly, we integrate these data with external sources to scrutinize relationships between the race/ethnicity of the victim and contextual characteristics. Several noteworthy findings emerge from survey regression models. Firstly, being Black and Hispanic acts as significant and positive predictors of hate crime victimization based on race and ethnicity/nationality, respectively. Both Blacks and Hispanics are more susceptible to being victims of hate crimes in predominantly White areas, whereas they are less prone to victimization of hate crimes in areas with a higher percentage of Blacks/Hispanics, respectively. These findings hold true when considering the U.S. Census regions. Our findings demonstrate the nuanced relationships between hate crime victimization and the race/ethnicity of the victims within the social context, thereby bolstering both the defended neighborhood hypothesis and the power-differential hypothesis. Policymakers should take heed of these relationships to mitigate victimization rooted in bigotry.

Hate crime victims falling under the five protected groups—race, religion, sexual orientation, disability, and transgender identity—are safeguarded by UK Hate Crime Legislation. Challenges arise when a victim occupies two or more minority identities simultaneously, creating complications in understanding and addressing their unique experiences. Research has established that hate crimes inflict greater psychological impact on victims compared to ordinary crimes without the hate component. This impact is heightened when there are multiple motivations for the crime, leading victims to feel the need to defend multiple aspects of their identity. While the UK has a basic legislative framework for hate crimes, police officers often prioritise one category, lacking understanding in investigating the intersectionality of hate crimes. Drawing on qualitative data resulting from 30 interviews among hate crime victims with multiple minority identities, as well as focus groups with the National Independent Advisory Group on Hate Crime, this study will aim to enhance the hate crime reporting system, focusing on supporting the mental health recovery of victims with multiple minority identities.