Peter Saunders personal website

The Black Roses Debate
BBC Radio 4

Matthew Taylor chairs a debate before a live audience on the issues raised by the Radio 4 drama 'Black Roses' about the murder, in 2007, of 20-year-old 'goth' Sophie Lancaster. Sophie's mother is campaigning to have crimes motivated by hatred of someone's lifestyle added to the list of 'hate crimes' (currently covering offences motivated by prejudice about the victim's race, religion, sexuality or disability) which attract tougher sentences because of the victim's identity. The studio audience, comprised mainly of activists, was broadly sympathetic to this call. In these three extracts (taken from a 45 minute programme) I tried to explain why I think the whole category of 'hate crime' should be scrapped.



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Black Roses Debate extracts by P Saunders

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http://soundcloud.com/p-saunders/black-roses-debate-extracts