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Hate Crime as a Crime Category Worthy of Policy Attention
Abstract
After more than a decade of legislative activity on hate crimes, a growing number of people are challenging the validity of hate crimes as a separate crime category with separate punishments. The question that begs to be answered is whether hate crimes are deserving of a separate and unique policy response. The author argues that they are by addressing a number of key factors including: the long-standing existence of crime hierarchies; the historical role of the federal government to protect individuals from harm; the increased impact of hate crimes on the victim; how hate crimes serve to intimidate entire communities, are widespread and underreported, and not impossible to determine motive. The author also provides a historical perspective on hate crimes as a crime category and a summary of federal and state hate crime legislation. She lists legitimate concerns of hate crime policy and urges a focus on prevention.
... Hate crimes have existed throughout American history; however, the terminology hate crime is more contemporary, starting in the 1970s with lawmakers and advocacy groups calling attention to perceptions of what was at the time an outbreak of crimes motivated by bias toward certain groups (Cogan, 2002;Grattet et al., 1998;Grattet & Jenness, 2001;Jenness, 2007). Advocacy efforts targeting hate crime can attribute their origination and sustainment to other social movements that began advocating for 1 Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, TX, USA (Hall, 2013;Palmer & Kutateladze, 2021). ...
... Such opinions form the basis of their opposition to any laws that grant rights or protections to sexual minorities. Despite this opposition, manyincluding researchers, advocacy groups, and lawmakers-have recognized the discrimination and marginalization the sexual minority community experiences, and their vulnerability to becoming victims of hate crime (Cogan, 2002;Herek, 2016;Mogul et al., 2011). This recognition has led to many states adding sexual orientation as a protected class. ...
Hate-motivated crime remains problematic in the United States. California passed the first hate crime law in 1978; Congress followed in 1990. States continue to amend their hate crime legislation, producing an amalgam of statutory provisions. This article creates a conceptual framework from which to classify hate crime legislation across the 50 states and Washington, DC. Laws were identified through Westlaw. Analyses compared the types of crimes covered, discrete and insular minorities protected, prosecutorial alternatives, mandates for law enforcement agencies, and additional rights provided to victims among states’ legislation. Considerable variation in scope and content of hate crime legislation exists among states, leaving several vulnerable groups unprotected, law enforcement underprepared, and victim rights and resources sparse. Future directions for hate crime policy and legislation are discussed.
... Primarily understood as criminal actions related to negative attitudes towards culturally delimited groups of people (Brax & Munthe, 2015), they serve as a means of intimidation for the victim, as well as for all members of the target group (Cogan, 2002). Others think that the primary purpose of the crime would be to communicate to the person embedded in a group 7 that he is so despised and devalued that he deserves to be a victim of violence (Cogan, 2002;Soral et al., 2018). ...
... Primarily understood as criminal actions related to negative attitudes towards culturally delimited groups of people (Brax & Munthe, 2015), they serve as a means of intimidation for the victim, as well as for all members of the target group (Cogan, 2002). Others think that the primary purpose of the crime would be to communicate to the person embedded in a group 7 that he is so despised and devalued that he deserves to be a victim of violence (Cogan, 2002;Soral et al., 2018). But also, the desire to terrorize a social group, to discharge on targets because of fear or contempt towards the group to which they belong or to raise its own selfesteem (Green et al., 2001) are motivations that can be mentioned. ...
We examined the involvement that both types of pride (authentic, hubris) could have in hate crimes representing a specific class of crime where criminal acts are committed against persons with a combination of specific and integrated characteristics in groups such as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) people, with disabilities,... Through an online questionnaire, we analyzed data from 113 people. Our results do not indicate a significant difference in the intent to perform risky and/or antisocial behaviors over the next six months whether attributed to the hubris or authentic pride condition. The overall results are not conclusive on the direct or indirect influence of the two types of pride in the realization of these behaviors.
... For many social scientists, the socially constructed status of the concept of 'race' is largely accepted (coates, 2008;Kobayashi, 2013;Kobayashi & peake, 1994;Nast, 1998;Schein, 2002). Moreover, scholarship has repeatedly demonstrated that 'race' means something different in different places, is acted on differently in different places, and takes and makes different material form on landscapes and social geographies across space and scales (challinor, 2012;coates, 2008;Inwood, 2011Inwood, , 2012Kobayashi, 2013;pulido, 1996;Winders & Schein, 2013, p. 5). ...
... For many social scientists, the socially constructed status of the concept of 'race' is largely accepted (coates, 2008;Kobayashi, 2013;Kobayashi & peake, 1994;Nast, 1998;Schein, 2002). Moreover, scholarship has repeatedly demonstrated that 'race' means something different in different places, is acted on differently in different places, and takes and makes different material form on landscapes and social geographies across space and scales (challinor, 2012;coates, 2008;Inwood, 2011Inwood, , 2012Kobayashi, 2013;pulido, 1996;Winders & Schein, 2013, p. 5). In so doing, we understand that the meaning(s) of 'race' -and by extension, racismvaries over time and space. ...
Violence on the one hand is taken as something natural and normal. On the other hand, certain violent actions, such as hate-crimes, are portrayed as forms of exceptional violence, while systemic inequalities are rendered ordinary. In this paper, I de-naturalize the concept of violence through a critical evaluation of hate-crimes. I argue that the concept of hate-crimes has been, or is at risk, of being co-opted by a more sustained effort to ignore and downplay racial inequalities in society. Drawing on the philosophical distinction between ‘killing’ and ‘letting die’, I contend that an exclusive focus on individual-based hate-crimes deflects attention from the systemic, structural inequalities of society; and that a narrow conceptualization of violence (as direct, intentional action) conforms to a more expansive neoliberal promotion of a ‘race-blind’ or ‘colour-blind’ criminal justice system.
... Second, hate crime is another common classification with implications for policy and research. While discrimination-based crime has always existed, calling it hate crime spurred policymakers to identify and respond to it specifically (Cogan, 2002). In the United States, this included creating government task forces, passing federal and state legislation, and training law enforcement. ...
... Such responses imply that discrimination-based offenses are fundamentally different from other types of crime, and Cogan (2002, p. 173) agrees that hate crime merits a 'separate crime category with separate punishments'. Critics, however, point out several problems with this classification (see Cogan, 2002). Prosecutors, for instance, may have difficulty trying hate crime cases because a special form of offender motivation must be established (that is, bias). ...
By most accounts, product counterfeiting, a specific type intellectual property crime, is growing in scope, scale and threat and poses serious economic, social and public health harms. In this article, we improve the conceptual understanding of product counterfeiting by critically exploring the validity and implications of broadly classifying this crime. Specifically, we examine its classification as white-collar crime, which is evident in research and practice. We develop a framework based on established properties of white-collar crime to which we compare and contrast characteristics of pharmaceutical counterfeiting incidents. To avoid shortcomings of previous more general research, it was critical to provide a specific case study for one type of product. One limitation in previous research is not separating deceptive and non-deceptive counterfeits. We demonstrate that product counterfeiting incidents have properties both consistent and inconsistent with white-collar crime as traditionally defined, which sometimes occur concurrently. To advance criminal justice and security research and practice, we conclude that product counterfeiting defies broad classification and is best considered a distinct crime event. Failure to embrace this broad classification can lead to ineffectively estimating its occurrence and its effects on the economy, public safety and health, and brand owners.
... 32 ON HATE CRIME LAWS Hate crime laws have been a subject of vigorous debate between those that do not find them to be an effective remedy, or view them as means of punishing people for the way they think, 33 and those who argue that they have a place in the judicial system. Cogan (2002) argues that: there is a crime hierarchy; hate crimes might not be taken as seriously if it were not for enhanced punishment; the federal government has a historical role to protect victims from harm; and that crimes are not just against an individual, but a community, with a very clear motive. 34 She thus establishes the viability of hate crime laws as a policy tool to limit hate crimes, making it worthwhile to consider such laws in this thesis. ...
... 33 Readers seeking additional insights on the effect of hate crime laws on freedom of speech may consult Weinstein and Winders, (1992), and Redish (1992). 34 Cogan (2002). Additional authors exploring this viewpoint are Martin (1995) and Iganski (2001). ...
... Hate crimes became recognized as violent acts against people, property, or organizations specifically because of the group to which they belong or identify with. Rather than the victim being chosen simply at random, hate crime victims are selected based on their group membership or identity (Cogan, 2002). The legal definition of a hate crime depends on the hate crime law considered. ...
... Yet, definitions may differ in terms of whichgroups are included. Gender, disability, and sexual orientation may or may not be included, whereas race, ethnicity, religion, and national origin usually are (Cogan, 2002). The intent of the act is to express condemnation, hate, disapproval, dislike, or distrust for that group (Herek, 1989). ...
Since the increase in number of hate crimes during the last decade, there has been a sense of
urgency to respond to the problem of hate violence in Turkey. The purpose of the research was
to examine relations between homophobic ideologies and the perceptions of liability of
perpetrators and victims of hate crime based on sexual orientation. Data were collected from
281 university students by using hate crime vignettes and questionnaires. Consistent with our
predictions, participants perceived the victims in the sexually biased hate crime vignettes as
more liable than the victims in unspecified crime vignette. Participants reported the victims
based on sexual orientation would have avoided the danger more than the victims in
unspecified vignette. Our findings provide additional insight into attitudes and beliefs leading
tolerance or hostility toward the victims of hate crimes.
Keywords: hate crime, homophobia, LGBT people, the person perception method, belief in a just world.
... In recent years both national-and state-level law enforcement agencies have increasingly been encouraged to combat bias-motivated violence (Bell 2002;Cogan 2002;Franklin 2002;Kelly 1993;McVeigh et al. 2003). Recognizing that innovation in criminal law does not automatically compel conformity in officer behavior (Brooks 2001), activist organizations and governmental agents have requested new policy measures that enhance law enforcement responsiveness to the problem (U.S. ...
... Despite these pronouncements, however, enforcing hate crime laws is not always a welcome or easy task. As others have documented, the mandate to enforce hate crime law introduces definitional ambiguities related to the parameters of "hate crime" in general and "motive" in particular (Bell 2002;Boyd et al. 1996;Franklin 2002;Garofalo and Martin 1993;Gerstenfeld 1992Gerstenfeld , 2003Martin 1995Martin , 1996McVeigh et al. 2003); political controversies surrounding hate crime and its relationship to "political correctness" in both law enforcement agencies and communities alike (Bell 2002;Boyd et al. 1996;Cogan 2002;Nolan andAkiyama 1999, 2002); and organizational dilemmas connected to agency structures, resource allocation decisions, and workplace culture (Balboni and McDevitt 2001;Bell 2002;Finn 1988;Martin 1995Martin , 1996Nolan andAkiyama 1999, 2002;Walker and Katz 1995;Wexler and Marx 1986). As a result, the enforcement of hate crime law is often delayed. ...
This article examines the characteristics of law enforcement agencies and their environments that affect the process by which local organizations create and promote operational understandings of law for the purpose of managing enforcement behavior. Using data on law enforcement agencies in California, logistic and OLS regres- sion models reveal the importance of organizational "perviousness"—that is, susceptibility to environmental influence and organizational alignment with the proposed innovation—in the process of organizational inno- vation and policy implementation. We find that perviousness is the strongest predictor of hate crime policy adop- tion by police organizations. Perviousness is, in turn, influenced by environmental conditions like violent crime rates and organizational characteristics like resources and size. Given these findings, we argue that organiza- tional perviousness serves as a central intermediary mechanism through which abstract law is translated into operational policy at the local level of implementation. Scholars have long recognized the importance of examin- ing the "law-on-the-books" and the "law-in-action." This article points out the importance of the "law-in- between" as well.
... This tolerable intolerance is built into the policy process based on the way attention focuses on the group (Simon, 1991), the expectations that are held for this stigma or animus (Merriam, 2018), and the amount of political power held by the identity group or its sympathizers. When there is attention to a level of hate toward a group that is distributed through the policy process in ways that are perceived to violate the expectations in degree, duration, target, or velocity, then attention to the social reaction of this unacceptable deviation has the potential to impose penalties that lead to change (Cogan, 2002). ...
... Dies kann Angst und Furcht in der gesamten sozialen Gruppe, dem das Opfer zugehört, auslösen (sogenannte kollektive Viktimisierung 8 ; Hardy und Chakraborti 2020; McDonald und Hogue 2007; Paterson et al. 2019; Perry und Alvi 2012). Tatorte vorurteilsmotivierter Straftaten werden von derBetroffenengruppe gemieden, es entstehen "Angstzonen"(Cogan 2002). Neben einem erhöhten Vermeidungsverhalten zeigt sich bei Opfern von Vorurteilskriminalität auch ein erhöhtes Schutzverhalten sowie ein gesteigertes Unsicherheitsgefühl und eine erhöhte Kriminali-7 Der Begriff "queer" ist ein Sammelbegriff für nicht-heterosexuelle Orientierungen sowie geschlechtliche Identitäten, die nicht binär oder cisgender sindwie etwa Trans*-oder Inter*geschlechtlichkeit; siehe Saadat-Lendle und Çetin (2014, S. 234). ...
Die Betroffenheit von vorurteilsmotivierten Straftaten, auch bezeichnet als Hasskriminalität, wird im deutschsprachigen Raum in den letzten Jahren zunehmend diskutiert und beforscht (Church und Coester 2021; Dreißigacker et al. 2021; Fröhlich 2021; Groß et al. 2018). Dennoch ist das Forschungsfeld in Deutschland noch nicht fest etabliert (Church und Coester 2021, S. 7 f.). In bislang durchgeführten quantitativen Forschungsprojekten werden Betroffenheiten einzelner Gruppen zum Teil diskutiert, eine intersektionale Perspektive wurde dabei jedoch noch nicht eingenommen. Darüber hinaus wurden multivariate Analysen nur vereinzelt durchgeführt (Church und Coester 2021; Fröhlich 2021). Die vorliegende Arbeit untersucht mit einer Stichprobe von 11.306 Personen in Hannover und Hamburg anhand von logistischen Regressionen Risikofaktoren für die Viktimisierung vorurteilsmotivierter Straftaten. Anschließend wird anhand von Interaktionseffekten geprüft, inwiefern bestimmte Merkmalskombinationen das Risiko der Viktimisierung von Hasskriminalität beeinflussen. Diese intersektionalen Zusammenhänge werden explorativ herausgestellt und anschließend diskutiert. Damit ist diese Arbeit die erste quantitative Studie im deutschsprachigen Raum, die die Vulnerabilität mehrfach marginalisierter Gruppen bezüglich Hasskriminalität empirisch fundiert untersucht.
... Hate-motivated behavior (HMB) is one of society's detrimental and harmful forms of social inequity spanning across multiple domains of empirical and legal inquiry (Chakraborti, 2015;Cogan, 2002;Cramer et al., 2020). At the core of HMB lies prejudice toward the actual or perceived group membership of the victim and includes hate crimes, hate speech, and microaggressions (e.g. ...
Hate-motivated behavior (HMB) comprises a problem for public health and criminal justice systems. The present study contributes to current science of HMB by examining (1) potential typology replication and extension and (2) demographic and attitudinal correlates of HMB subtypes. The present study was a secondary analysis of an online survey study of discriminatory behavior and well-being. Participants were adults living in the United States ( N = 289). Four HMB subtypes emerged: generalized, unmotivated, reactive, and defensive. The generalized subtype was characterized by elevated levels of prejudices, positive views toward hate groups, and the youngest age. The reactive subtype was differentiated from the defensive subtype by modestly higher HMB, racism, and positive views toward racially motivated hate groups. HMB subtypes were largely consistent with prior literature, and therefore can inform public health and criminal justice system responses to acts ranging from minor discrimination to interpersonal violence. Prevention and practice are discussed.
... Any crime motivated by prejudice could thus be classified as a hate crime, from property crimes like vandalism to violent crimes like arson, assault, or murder. Scholars have defended the government's special interest in hate crimes by asserting that hate crimes pose additional harms above and beyond those normally associated with non-bias crimes (Levin, 1999;Iganski, 2001;Cogan, 2002). Not only do bias crimes pose greater risk of physical and psychological harm to victims than non-bias crimes Lantz and Kim, 2019), but they also send a message to the wider community that members of targeted groups are not welcome, and are not safe (Iganski, 2001;Schwitter and Liebe, 2024). ...
Introduction
Recent years have witnessed an increase in highly publicized attacks targeting members of ethnoracial and religious minority groups. To date, existing research has primarily focused on the tendency for such “trigger events” to generate violent aftershocks. We argue that beyond such ripple effects, highly salient trigger events significantly increase hate-crime related stress among racial and ethnic minorities. Additionally, we explore whether these effects are limited to the group most clearly targeted, or if they “spill over” to other minoritized communities.
Methods
To study reactions to hate crimes, we draw upon national survey data (N = 1,122) in combination with a natural experiment involving the Unite the Right rally and vehicle attack in Charlottesville, Virginia in August 2017. We employ an “unexpected event during survey” design to estimate the causal effect of the Charlottesville rally on stress about hate crimes.
Results
We first show that there was an increase in anti-Black hate crimes in the 2 weeks following the Charlottesville incident. We also find a corresponding increase in stress due to the perception of personal vulnerability to hate crimes among African-Americans. However, we do not observe a significant increase in levels of stress following the trigger event among Hispanics and Asian Americans.
Discussion
Our results suggest that highly publicized instances of intergroup violence can have significant impacts on stress about hate crime victimization within the target group. However, we find that this effect is short-lived, and that both violent aftershocks and the general climate of fear spurred by hate crimes may be racially bounded.
... This post implies that Black people should not be looked down on due to their skin color. It also opposes discriminative behaviors such as committing hate crimes against victims who are chosen according to their social identity [Cogan, 2002]. People in the SAH movement also posted similar tweets to express their determination and willingness to abolish racism in society: "We must band [sic: stand] together to continue to fight racism, violence, bigotry and hate twds [towards] ppl [people] of color" (Table 5: #stopasianhate -"together", posted by @ngoafulezi). ...
Minority groups have been using social media to organize social movements that create profound social impacts. Black Lives Matter (BLM) and Stop Asian Hate (SAH) are two successful social movements that have spread on Twitter that promote protests and activities against racism and increase the public's awareness of other social challenges that minority groups face. However, previous studies have mostly conducted qualitative analyses of tweets or interviews with users, which may not comprehensively and validly represent all tweets. Very few studies have explored the Twitter topics within BLM and SAH dialogs in a rigorous, quantified and data-centered approach. Therefore, in this research, we adopted a mixed-methods approach to comprehensively analyze BLM and SAH Twitter topics. We implemented (1) the latent Dirichlet allocation model to understand the top high-level words and topics and (2) open-coding analysis to identify specific themes across the tweets. We collected more than one million tweets with the #blacklivesmatter and #stopasianhate hashtags and compared their topics. Our findings revealed that the tweets discussed a variety of influential topics in depth, and social justice, social movements, and emotional sentiments were common topics in both movements, though with unique subtopics for each movement. Our study contributes to the topic analysis of social movements on social media platforms in particular and the literature on the interplay of AI, ethics, and society in general.
... Such acts of hatred have detrimental effects on survivors and survivors' communities. Survivors of hate crime, for example, experience higher levels of depression and anxiety compared to survivors of comparable crimes not motivated by bias 4 and they may ultimately reject or despise the part of their identity that was targeted 5 . Even for people who are not directly targeted by abusers, sharing a trait targeted by a hate crime can cause clinical levels of posttraumatic stress 6 and elevated levels of depression and anxiety in survivors 7 . ...
Understanding motivations underlying acts of hatred are essential for developing strategies to prevent such extreme behavioral expressions of prejudice (EBEPs) against marginalized groups. In this work, we investigate the motivations underlying EBEPs as a function of moral values. Specifically, we propose EBEPs may often be best understood as morally motivated behaviors grounded in people’s moral values and perceptions of moral violations. As evidence, we report five studies that integrate spatial modeling and experimental methods to investigate the relationship between moral values and EBEPs. Our results, from these U.S. based studies, suggest that moral values oriented around group preservation are predictive of the county-level prevalence of hate groups and associated with the belief that extreme behavioral expressions of prejudice against marginalized groups are justified. Additional analyses suggest that the association between group-based moral values and EBEPs against outgroups can be partly explained by the belief that these groups have done something morally wrong.
... Si, selon Statistique Canada (Moreau 2020), les crimes haineux sont peu fréquents (moins de 0.1% de la criminalité au Canada), les statistiques sont-elles suffisamment représentatives pour orienter les décisions politiques, guider les stratégies policières, informer le public ou encore servir de vecteur aux réactions d'une communauté visée ? Elles peuvent, certes, comporter les failles généralement associées aux données officielles : depuis les vingt dernières années, plusieurs auteurs ont souligné la forte sousreprésentativité des données sur les crimes haineux, estimant que le chiffre noir -c'est-à-dire les affaires criminelles qui échappent aux statistiques officielles -était plus important pour ces données que pour les crimes sans motivation haineuse (Cogan 2002 ;Nelson et al. 2016 ;Perry 2001). Ce phénomène est apparu particulièrement prononcé lorsque les victimes étaient ciblées en raison de leur orientation sexuelle (Dunbar 2006 ;Williams et Robinson 2004). ...
Au cours des dernières années, le rôle des forces policières dans la lutte contre les actes haineux s’est profondément transformé au Québec. D’acteurs se limitant à réagir face à cette criminalité, les principales organisations policières tentent aujourd’hui d’être de plus en plus proactives face aux diverses manifestations de la haine. Ainsi, en 2016, le Service de police de la ville de Montréal (SPVM) a créé une unité d’enquête spécialisée sur les actes haineux. Cette transformation traduit une prise de conscience des impacts de la haine dans la société et un changement de paradigme dans les politiques de sécurité publique amorcé après l’attentat de St-Jean-sur-Richelieu et amplifié par l’attentat à la grande mosquée de Québec. Le rapprochement avec les différentes communautés culturelles et ethniques, le dialogue avec certains groupes marginalisés et vulnérables ou encore la prise en charge systématique des événements haineux non criminels – qualifiés d’incidents haineux – sont quelques-unes des stratégies adoptées par les principales organisations policières du Québec.
... These injuries are often related to the presence of weapons (Harlow, 2005;Strom, 2001), although reports of weapons use and rates of injuries have varied when examining different years and different data sources (Wilson, 2014). Bias crimes have been determined to be particularly heinous even in relatively "minor" crimes such as vandalism because of the increased levels of negative health and mental health outcomes for victims that are long-lasting, and that these crimes also have negative impacts to victims' communities that extend beyond non-bias crimes (Cogan, 2002;Fetzer & Pezzella, 2019). Scholars have noted that these differences are typically a matter of degree, rather than the presence or absence of a characteristic. ...
Despite increased research on women’s criminal offending patterns, research on women’s involvement in bias crimes is almost nonexistent. This study examines bias crime incidences that are considered crimes against persons (e.g., assault, murder, robbery, sexual assault) collected in the National Incidence-based Reporting System from 2009–2012 to determine what features characterize crimes committed by men or women. Results indicate that female bias crime suspects choose different victims than male suspects; female suspects are more likely than men to target friends and family members, more likely to target other women, and more frequently commit crimes based on race/ethnicity/national origin than religion or sexual orientation-based bias crimes, and were less likely to use a firearm. Men and women were similar in their suspect characteristics (such as using alcohol/drugs before the crime) and the overall incident characteristics (such as causing injury). These results suggest that we need to more critically examine current models of bias crime commission, and to include bias crimes as another avenue to help uncover differences in male and female offending.
... Willingness of the victims to report these criminal offences is of the crucial importance. One of the important reasons why it is a great dark number of these criminal offences is the fact that the victims do not report it due to the fear of secondary victimization by the environment or due to distrust towards the police (Perry, 2001, Cogan, 2002McVeigh et al., 2003;Berrill, 1992;Herek, 1992). Distrust towards the police may be the consequence of the police subculture particularity characterized by group closure, insuffi ciency of sensibility towards the different social groups and their culture and life styles. ...
In this paper is analysed the role of security providers at the national level in thecontrol of hate crimes. The special particular reference is given on the role of the policeand prosecutor’s offi ce but also the other entities which have a social signifi cance in thecreation of the suitable environment for the prevention of these criminal offences. Thoseare primarily educational institutions, political elites and media. Effi cient control of thehate crimes is a comprehensive process in which should actively be involved differententities in the society, not only the authorities of the formal social control. Integral approachto this problem can give positive results in the long run, whether it is about therepressive action or the prevention.
... Spremnost žrtava da prijave ova krivična dela od ključne je važnosti. Jedan od bitnih razloga zašto je velika tamna brojka ovih krivičnih dela jeste činjenica da ih žrtve ne prijavljuju zbog straha od sekundarne viktimizacije od strane okruženja ili zbog nepoverenja prema policiji (Perry, 2001;Cogan, 2002;McVeigh et al., 2003;Berrill, 1992;Herek, 1992). Nepoverenje prema policiji može biti posledica specifi čnosti policijske supkulture koju karakteriše grupna zatvorenost, nedostatak senzibilnosti prema različitim društvenim grupama i njihovoj kulturi i životnim stilovima. ...
U ovom radu se analizira uloga provajdera bezbednosti na nacionalnom nivouu kontroli zločina mržnje. Poseban osvrt je dat na ulogu policije i tužilaštva, ali i drugihsubjekata koji imaju društveni značaj u stvaranju pogodnog ambijenta za prevenciju ovihkrivičnih dela. To su prvenstveno vaspito-obrazovne institucije, političke elite, i mediji.Efi kasna kontrola zločina mržnje je sveobuhvatan proces u kome aktivno treba da buduuključeni različiti subjekti u društvu, ne samo organi formalne društvene kontrole. Integalniprisup ovom problemu dugoročno može dati pozitivne rezultate, bilo da je reč orepresivnom delovanju ili o prevenciji.
... Hate crimes are those motivated by prejudice or antipathy toward a target victim's group, typically on the basis of ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation (Perry, 2001). They are often thought of as "message crimes" in that they are meant to harm not only the individual victim, but their entire community, by sending a message that they are disliked, unwanted, and unsafe (Cogan, 2002;Hanes & Machin, 2014). Some scholars have recommended the more general term, bias-motivated offense, to reflect the fact that hate crimes are those in which victims are selected due to their membership in a particular group (Chakraborti, 2010;Perry, 2001). ...
Prior research has explored victim blaming in the context of hate, often depicting hate crime victims as relatively passive recipients of harassment and violence. In reality, victims often do engage with their perpetrators, and the present research explored the effect that victim behavior might have on observer reactions to Islamophobic hate crimes. Participants completed a measure of Islamophobia and read a scenario in which a White man verbally harassed a victim in the park before physically assaulting him. We manipulated both the victim’s identity (White or South Asian Muslim) and the victim’s response to the perpetrator’s verbal harassment (the victim either ignored the offensive comments, verbally reacted to them, or became physically confrontational). When the victim was portrayed as passive and nonresponding, the South Asian Muslim victim attracted lower victim blame, higher perpetrator blame, and increased certainty that the offense was a hate crime. As the victim’s behavior became more aggressive, victim blaming increased and perpetrator blaming decreased, but only for the South Asian Muslim victim. It appeared that observers scrutinized the behavior of the South Asian Muslim victim in a way they did not for the White victim, such that sympathy toward the Muslim hate crime victim was tied to his “good behavior.” We propose that observers hold expectations of the model hate crime victim, one who is a racialized, religious, or sexual minority who accepts harassment passively and with good behavior; deviation from this script results in a loss of sympathy and an increase in victim blaming. Finally, those higher in Islamophobia displayed reduced perpetrator blame, guilt, and sentences but greater victim blame when the crime targeted a South Asian Muslim as opposed to White victim.
... However, one form of violence in particular, hate-or bias-motivated violence that targets people based on their social status or identity, has to date received much less attention by scholars. This lack of consideration is a subject of concern given that researchers find that bias violence can be especially harmful to victims and their respective communities (Cogan, 2002;Green, McFalls, & Smith, 2001;Herek, Gillis, & Cogan, 1999;Levin & McDevitt, 1993;McDevitt, Balboni, Garcia, & Gu, 2001;Noelle, 2002). There are several possible explanations for why there has been considerably less research on bias violence in comparison to other forms of crime, including noted challenges of applying traditional criminological theories to bias crime (Perry, 2001) and gaps in relevant and reliable official bias crime data (Bell, 2002;Berk, Boyd, & Hamner, 1992;Boyd, Berk, & Hamner, 1996;Green et al., 2001;Haider-Markel, 2002;Levin & McDevitt, 1993McDevitt, Balboni, & Bennett, 2002;Nolan & Akiyama, 1999). ...
Purpose – The overall purpose of this chapter is to discuss what is known about serious forms of bias violence, obstacles to studying bias violence, and how alternative theoretical and methodological approaches can advance our understanding of bias violence in the 21st century.
Methodology/Approach – Following a review of the literature, the applicability of Identity Fusion Theory for explaining bias violence is considered and applied to the 2009 anti-racial mass shooting at an historically Black church in Charleston, South Carolina. Data come from an innovative open-source project known as the United States Extremist Crime Database (ECDB).
Findings – Drawing from Identity Fusion Theory, information from open-source data on the Charleston church shooting suggests that the perpetrator was a highly fused individual who perceived African Americans as a threat towards his social identity group and committed an act of extreme behavior (i.e., bias homicide) as a means for stabilizing his self-views.
Originality/Value – This chapter builds upon prior studies of bias violence by demonstrating how (1) publicly available open-sources (e.g., court documents, media reports) may be systematically compiled and used as reliable data for studying serious forms of bias violence, and (2) the use of social psychological theories, specifically Identity Fusion Theory, can help to explain the role of personal and group identities in discriminatory violence.
... Descriptions of the gay community and justifications for their inclusion in hate crime protections also coincide with SCF assumptions about dependent groups. Hate crime scholars and advocacy groups like the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force have pointed to the unique vulnerability, invisibility, and marginalization of the gay and lesbian community as evidence that they deserve to have added protections afforded to them through hate crime laws (Cogan 2002;Mogul, Ritchie, & Whitlock, 2011). The use of such paternalistic terms is typical when dealing with dependent groups (Ingram, Schneider, & deLeon, 2007). ...
Several studies have described and analyzed the development and diffusion of hate crime laws in the United States, but none specifically examined state-level differences in protected categories. Forty-five of the 50 states have a hate crime statute, but only 30 of those include sexual orientation. In this study the Social Construction Framework is applied to the hate crime policy domain for the in order to determine whether or not variations in the social and political status of gays and lesbians are associated with the inclusion of sexual orientation in state hate crime laws. Content analysis of daily newspapers in 6 states revealed that a positive social construction is associated with groups seeking hate crime law protections, and that political influence may also be a key factor.
... The growing consensus in the criminological literature is that discriminatory violence is unique from other more conventional forms of violence. Relative to traditional violent crimes, bias violence is overwhelmingly perpetrated by young, White males (Berrill, 1990;Comstock, 1991;Garofalo & Martin, 1993;Harry, 1992;Martin, 1996;Maxwell & Maxwell, 1995), often involves multiple offenders and victims (Garofalo, 1991;Gruenewald, 2012), tends to subject victims to severe forms of brutality (Levin, 1999;Levin & McDevitt, 1993;Messner, McHugh, & Felson, 2004;Perry, 2003), and has a greater impact on communities as a whole (Cogan, 2002;Herek, Gillis, & Cogan, 1999;Noelle, 2002). ...
Research on the nature of bias homicide has experienced increased interest in the academic literature. To date, few studies have compared the similarities and differences between anti-race/ethnicity bias homicides and average American homicides. Consequently, we know little about how the offender, victim, and situational characteristics compare across these two homicide types. Drawing from doing difference theory of bias crime, the aim of this study is to comparatively analyze the attributes of anti-race/ethnicity homicides to average homicides between 1990 and 2014. Anti-race/ethnicity homicide data is extracted from the U.S. Extremist Crime Database (ECDB) and paired with average homicides from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) 2000 Supplementary Homicide Reports (SHR). The results of this study suggest that the characteristics of anti-race/ethnicity homicides are both similar and different from average homicides. Implications for bias crime theory, research, and policy are discussed.
... It is vital that the victims report hate crimes. One of the main reasons that these crimes go unreported is that the victims are afraid of secondary victimisation by the environment or because they do not trust the police (Berrill 1992, Herek 1992, Perry 2001, Cogan 2002, McVeigh et al. 2003. In case of Bosnia and Herzegovina, despite the fear of secondary victimisation and distrust of the local police, minority groups still report hate crimes. ...
Studying hate crimes in a country divided along sectarian lines, such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, presents a substantial challenge for researchers. The consequences of hate crimes are multifaceted, and in an environment of institutional crime-control mechanisms that are still developing, these events can negatively affect society at large. Hate crimes often lead to ethnic and religious homogenisation, polarisation, intolerance, overt hatred and violence. This paper provides an overview of research findings relevant to policing hate crimes in post-conflict Bosnia and Herzegovina. Special focus is placed on policing at three levels: government policy (strategies for action at the level of the interior ministries), police policy (the implementation of action strategies in lower organisational units) and police practice (police fieldwork). The study is primarily based on a qualitative approach including interviews, observations and secondary data analyses. The general findings indicate that crime control is inadequate and influenced by an apparent lack of political will to tackle the problem. Our findings also revealed the absence of any systematic approach to deal with hate crimes, which implied numerous problems in policing at all levels. Bosnia and Herzegovina, as a transitional post-conflict country, has a long way ahead in establishing law enforcement institutions that will enable the rule of law, protect human rights and ensure political accountability.
... Diminished confidence in police officer capacity to accurately categorise PMC can undermine community cohesiveness and strain ties between the police and members of society (see Craig and Waldo 1996, Green et al. 1998 Police 2002, Cogan 2002, Kercher et al. 2008. Policing minority groups is already challenging for police depart- ments who are faced with greater diversity in cultural norms, values, identities and attitudes towards police and the law (see Brown and Benedict 2002, Schafer et al. 2003, Schuck et al. 2008, Van Craen 2012, Tyler 2011, Miles-Johnson 2013, Murphy 2013. ...
Prejudice motivated crime (PMC) is defined as crimes motivated by bias, prejudice or hatred towards members of particular groups, communities and individuals. To understand how police awareness training facilitates or constrains the capacity of police officers to appropriately classify and respond to PMC, data were collected from a population of Police Recruits (PRs) and Protective Service Officers (PSOs) (N = 1609) to ascertain their perceptions of PMC pre- and post-PMC awareness training. These were used in a logistic regression model to identify factors explaining whether PRs and PSOs would identify a vignette/scenario as a PMC. We found PRs and PSOs were more likely to correctly identify a PMC scenario than a control scenario, but only 61% as likely to identify an incident as PMC post-PMC awareness training after accounting for other variables. We argue that awareness training programmes need to be more aligned to the specific needs of policing in diverse societies.
... Mason (2007) further contended that hate crime laws allow for social justice. Proponents also argued that the unique damage caused by hate crimes could be properly addressed with criminal sanctions and that minority groups need additional protection (Cogan, 2002;Maroney, 1998). ...
Supporters of hate crime legislation argue the laws are a positive development designed to promote social equality and encourage political participation. Critics claim the laws are patronizing and disempowering. Existing research addresses neither the impact of hate crime laws on designated social groups nor attempts to verify assumptions about legislation and the social and political status of protected minorities. Sexual orientation, one of the most controversial categories, resulted in considerable social and political debate. This research explores the addition of sexual orientation to state hate crime law and how inclusion of this target group affects the social construction of gays and lesbians. Data are drawn from a sample of 12 daily newspapers in six states. Content and time-series analyses were used to explore social construction. The results indicate that inclusion in hate crime protections fails to have a positive impact on the construction of the group, and the discussion offers important policy implications.
... 631) Hate crime perpetrators send a message to the victim and the victim's group (whether intentional or not) that they are not wanted in the venue they violated or into that which they trespassed. By sending such a message, members of the victim's group and perhaps those of other traditionally targeted groups feel less safe and more fearful (Cogan, 2002;Noelle, 2002;Perry, 2010). This rippling of fear is waves of harm (Iganski, 2001) or according to Weinstein is an "in terrorem" effect (as cited in Perry, 2010, p. 350). ...
How a neighborhood responds to a hate crime is important for combatting these wrongdoings. Since these acts are often proxies for power dynamics involving the " superior " perpetrator controlling the " inferior " victim, effective responses from the victim's community are essential. However, these same communities, especially poor minority ones, are often socially disorganized and find it challenging to address the complex problems that stem from poverty. This exploratory study observes how a Cape Verdean community in the Northeast responded to racially motivated hate crimes that occurred there. Using the theoretical framework of social disorganization theory, social cohesion, and collective efficacy, the central questions asked in this study are the following: How did this community respond to these crimes? To what extent did social cohesion and collective efficacy shape its response? Interviews of community leaders were conducted to answer these questions. Results indicate that despite social cohesion on some levels, the lack of collective efficacy prevented the Cape Verdean community from articulating and implementing a strong response to these hate crimes.
... Moreover, an analysis of data between the years of 1992 and 1996 revealed that there was a 52% increase in hate crimes against African-Americans (Torres, 1999). Thus, it is necessary to study hate crimes, particularly among African-Americans, as statistics reveal that African-Americans are more frequently the target of hate crimes than other racial groups and hate crimes continue to increase (Jacobs (McDevitt et al., 2000;Cogan, 2002). Although some agencies do not report hate crime statistics, researchers have noted that the hate crime reporting system is relatively new and continues to improve (Jacobs & Potter, 1997). ...
Statistics show that hate crimes continue to occur in United States, inciting fear and intimidation in minority communities (Petrosino, 1999; Torres, 1999; Saucier et al., 2006; Nolan et al., 2002; Jacobs & Potter, 1997). Although hate crime legislation has been passed, very little research has assessed what impact it has. This is particularly true for jury decision making. The aim of this study was to examine the main effects of type of crime (hate versus non-hate), offender-victim racial composition (African-American/Caucasian), and the interaction between these two variables on ratings of guilt likelihood, deserved punishment, and sentence recommendations after controlling for offender dangerousness, witness credibility, and hate motivation. The first hypothesis assumed that differences in guilt and hate crime adjudications would emerge across the experimental conditions.
The second hypothesis indicated that dangerousness, and hate motivation would exert significant influence on deserved punishment and sentence recommendations; while witness credibility would exert influence on guilt adjudication. The third and fourth hypothesis stated that there would be no main effects of type of crime (hate versus non-hate) and offender-victim racial composition (African-American/Caucasian) on ratings of guilt likelihood, deserved punishment, and sentence recommendations. The fifth hypothesis suggested that there would be interaction effects between type of crime and offender-victim racial composition on ratings of guilt likelihood, deserved punishment, and recommended sentence after controlling for dangerousness, hate motivation, and witness credibility.
Results indicated that there were no main effects for type of crime, offender-victim racial composition, or the interaction between these two variables on ratings of guilt likelihood, deserved punishment, and sentence recommendations. There was a significant interaction effect on ratings of guilt likelihood for aggravated battery; however this interaction disappeared after controlling for offender dangerousness, witness credibility, and hate motivation. Dangerousness and hate motivation appeared to exert influence on the study outcomes. Overall, the findings were not congruent with prior research. It appeared that the covarying factors seemed to exert significant influence on the study outcomes; thus further study is warranted.
... 9 Jews, on the contrary, are a recognized national minority group, and they have traditionally been targets, both as individuals and collectively—such as in attacks on Jewish property, synagogues, cemeteries, and cultural institutions—for neo-Nazis and other White power groups. The inclusion of only immigrants; homosexuals, bisexuals, and transpersons; and Jews in the official statistical definition (and thereby even inclusion in the realm of anti–hate crime legislation ) has not been challenged seriously in Sweden, as it was in some other countries (Cogan, 2002). Voices for inclusion of gender and disability, for example, have been palpably silent. ...
The purpose of this article is to describe and analyze development in Sweden concerning the amount and types of reported hate crimes and entailed community responses. Particular attention is paid to offenses against immigrants. The number of reported xenophobic, anti-Semitic, and homophobic crimes has increased considerably between 1997 and 2003. The most common hate crimes against immigrants are threats, harassment, slander, ethnic agitation, and assault. The broader community (political state and welfare society) responded with new legislation, new orders to the police, a discursive offensive against racism, and in particular, the enactment of huge social programs in impoverished immigrant communities. The author analyzes some of the outcomes of these responses.
... One of the most significant forces in the construction, evolution and ultimate institutionalization of bias crime as a new crime category has been the Hate Crime Statistics Act (HSCA) of 1990 (Cogan, 2002;Jenness & Grattet, 2001;Levin and McDevitt, 1993;McDevitt et al., 2000;Nolan & Akiyama, 1999;Nolan, Akiyama, & Berhanu, 2002). The HCSA was signed into law in April 1990. ...
In order to assess the impact of the different policies and procedures instituted by state UCR programs on law enforcement participation in the national Hate Crime Data Collection Program (Hate Crime Program), the authors developed a survey instrument to send to all state UCR managers or similarly designated representatives. The survey was designed to assess the extent to which certain policies and procedures exist in each state relating to the reporting of bias crime statistics. This article provides an analysis of this survey's results and a discussion of the impact of state policies and practices on successful participation in the Hate Crime Program.
... As social scientists analyzed the parameters of hate crime statutes and the courts reached 3 For example, see Grattet (1996, 2004), Grattet et al. (1998), Haider-Markel and agreement on what forms of hate crime statutes survive constitutional tests, law enforcement officials grappled with whether, when, and how to enforce hate crime law. The mandate to enforce hate crime law brings with it definitional ambiguities related to establishing the parameters of "hate crime" in general and "motive" in particular; political controversies surrounding hate crime and its relationship to "political correctness" in both law enforcement agencies and communities alike; and organizational dilemmas connected to agency structures, resource allocation decisions, and workplace culture (Cogan 2002;Franklin 2002). These dynamics have influenced how the policing and prosecution of hate crime has unfolded in the U.S. ...
Zusammenfassung
Nach Gesetzesreformen 2015 und 2021 bestimmt § 46 Abs. 2 S. 2 des Strafgesetzbuchs (StGB) nun ausdrücklich, dass rassistische, fremdenfeindliche, antisemitische und sonstige menschenverachtende Ziele und Beweggründe bei der Strafzumessung strafschärfend zu berücksichtigen sind. Derzeit liegt außerdem ein neuer Gesetzesentwurf vor, der vorsieht, dass zusätzlich ›geschlechtsspezifische‹ sowie ›gegen die sexuelle Orientierung gerichtete‹ Ziele und Beweggründe aufgenommen werden. Trotz entsprechender Signale der Gesetzgebung, bleibt bis heute offen, ob das Vorgehen des Rechtsstaates bei dem Phänomen der Vorurteilskriminalität von der Erkennung bis zur rechtlichen Würdigung und Verurteilung als angemessen bezeichnet werden kann. Der Beitrag stellt den staatlichen Umgang mit Vorurteilskriminalität dar und fokussiert hierbei die bisherigen Erkenntnisse zur Anwendung des § 46 Abs. 2 S. 2 StGB. Dabei wird das Konzept der Vorurteilskriminalität sowie ihre Erfassung dargestellt, um dann die Rechtslage in Deutschland und den empirischen Forschungsstand zur Berücksichtigung von menschenverachtenden Zielen und Beweggründen in der Praxis zu erörtern. Zuletzt werden mögliche Forschungsperspektiven zur Überprüfung der Rechtsanwendungspraxis von menschenverachtenden Zielen und Beweggründen aufgezeigt.
In the wake of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, North American academics took a renewed interest in researching right-wing extremism. This scholarly agenda was further intensified by extremist activity related to the candidacy and presidency of Donald Trump, which was marked by political violence by right-wing groups like the Proud Boys, a dramatic increase in hate crimes, and an assault on the U.S. Capitol to prevent the peaceful transfer of power. This piece explores the origins of the concept of right-wing political positions and how scholars and researchers have used differing theoretical and disciplinary frameworks to best explain how social movements, like populism, transform into sources of political violence. The frameworks discussed include political science, cultural studies, social movement, criminological, and psychological perspectives. Relevant contemporary research resting in each of these five paradigms is discussed and research agendas for the “post-Trump” era, with regard to each perspective, are addressed.
This paper examines the community-level drivers of ethnic minorities’ experiences of harassment in Britain, particularly the role of community ethnic structure (ethnic composition, ethnic segregation and ethnic-change), socio-economic disadvantage, and residential stability. Drawing on an ethnic minority-booster sample of a large-scale UK panel dataset, we address several potential shortcomings with prior analyses to make novel contributions, including taking a multilevel approach, using self-reported harassment data and not police statistics, testing across multiple geographic-scales, and measuring both actual harassment experiences and fear of future harassment. Key findings suggest minorities in areas with a higher share of Whites report a higher likelihood of harassment and that living in more residentially segregated areas increases minorities’ likelihoods of harassment. We also find strong evidence that socio-economic disadvantage and residential instability foster harassment. We find that these same community-level drivers are also significant for minorities’ fear of harassment; in part, because experiences of harassment affect the victim’s fear of future harassment, but also because harassment experiences spill over to impact fear among a victim’s close social contacts. These findings have important implications for the theorising of harassment and support the inclusion of community-level measures in national policy to reduce harassment.
In this chapter, dominant hierarchies that relate to hate crime victimisation, such as the identity of victim, type of offence experienced and perpetrator of the offence are all critically discussed and deconstructed. This chapter draws upon empirical data to highlight the underlying hierarchical nature of hate crime victimisation in which victims conceptualise the criminality and seriousness of their experiences based on these hierarchies. It is demonstrated that a significant amount of research has contributed to the hierarchical nature of hate crime victimisation and physically and sexually violent victimisation has often been privileged within research, resultantly overshadowing the often mundane nature of hate crime. I draw upon ideas of the ‘ideal victim’ to illustrate how trans people often understand themselves as non-ideal victims. In doing so, this chapter demonstrates that the social consciousness of particular forms of hate crime targeting particular groups of people significantly impacts upon victims’ perceptions of their own experiences.
Hate crimes are notoriously under-reported, and the present research explores possible etiological factors for this phenomenon in a national Canadian sample. Controlling for demographic and offence characteristics, the research shows that victims who had prior experiences with police discrimination were significantly less likely to report hate crimes to police compared to victims of non-hate-based crimes. Additionally, victims experienced hate crimes in a more intersectional way than is typically reflected in police reports, as victims tended to interpret the offence as targeting multiple overlapping identities rather than a solitary hate motivation. These findings reflect the unique nature of hate-motivated offences, whose victims may find it futile to report bias-motivated offences to a police force whom they believe is itself biased. These results suggest possible opportunities to improve reporting of offences and relations between police and marginalized communities.
Delik Perbuatan Tidak Menyenangkan diatur dalam KUHP, mengandung unsur adanya paksaan dan kekerasan. Pasal KUHP mengenai delik ini sering dijadikan sebagai dasar hukum penuntutan pada kasus penghinaan atau pencemaran nama baik. Namun seiring waktu dalam penerapan hukum dari pasal ini sering dianggap sebagai pasal karet, karena untuk menjelaskan pengertian perbuatan tidak menyenangkan sangatlah subjektif tergantung dari masing-masing individunya. Artikel ini membahas tentang kebijakan hukum pidana mengenai delik perbuatan tidak menyenangkan saat ini (ius constitutum) dan dimasa mendatang (ius constituendum) dengan menggunakan metode pendekatan yuridis normatif dan spesifikasi penelitian berupa deskriptif analisis. Kebijakan hukum pidana mengenai delik perbuatan tidak menyenangkan yang saat ini telah diatur dalam KUHP telah mengalami pengurangan frasa pada isi pasalnya berdasarkan Putusan Mahkamah Konstitusi karena tidak bisa diukur secara pasti perbuatan apa saja yang masuk dalam delik tersebut, sehingga dapat menimbulkan peluang kesewenang-wenangan baik dari pelapor maupun pihak penegak hukum. Putusan Mahkamah Konstitusi ini tidak serta merta membuat perubahan besar pada kebijakan hukum pidana mengenai delik perbuatan tidak menyenangkan. Hal ini terlihat dari belum diaturnya delik ini secara khusus dalam RUU KUHP. Maka demi kepastian hukum, perlu adanya perbaikan pada kebijakan hukum pidana mengenai delik perbuatan tidak menyenangkan yang perlu diakomodir di dalam RUU KUHP.
Sicherheit wird nicht selten ex negativo durch eine Beschreibung neuer Risiken und Gefahren bestimmt. Doch gilt es auch, die sich wandelnden Maßnahmen, neuen Technologien und Politiken in den Blick zu nehmen, die eine Gesellschaft wählt, um Sicherheit herzustellen. Unter dem Titel "(Un-)Sicherheiten im Wandel - Gesellschaftliche Dimensionen von Sicherheit" werden folgende Themen der zivilen Sicherheitsforschung erörtert:
- Radikalisierungsdynamiken
- Moderation und Gestaltung von Sicherheitskommunikation
- Neue Technologien als Präventions- und Sicherheitsgarant?
Der Band geht auf die vierte Konferenz des Fachdialogs Sicherheitsforschung zurück, die im Juni 2017 in Berlin stattfand. Weitere Informationen: www.sifo-dialog.de
We asked prosecutors how they think about hate crimes and which factors do and do not influence their decision-making processes when deciding whether to charge a hate crime (add a hate crime enhancement). Our empirical findings along these line provide the first glimpse of the dynamics that underlie the prosecution of hate crime.
This study was conducted to examine how courts have applied hate as an aggravating factor at
sentencing (section 718.2(a)(i) of the Criminal Code). The research sought to examine whether cases
applying hate as an aggravating factor at sentencing reflected the number of self-reported hate incidents
or police records of hate crimes, whether the application of 718.2(a)(i) has resulted in longer or more
restrictive sentences and whether legal thinking evidenced in case law, particularly the degree of
motivation required, has evolved over time.
Terrorism, Crime, and Public Policy describes the problem of terrorism; compares it to other forms of aggression, particularly crime and war; and discusses policy options for dealing with the problem. It focuses on the causes of terrorism with the aim of understanding its roots and providing insights toward policies that will serve to prevent it. The book serves as a single-source reference on terrorism and as a platform for more in-depth study, with a set of discussion questions at the end of each chapter. Individual chapters focus on: the nature of terrorism, theories of aggression and terrorism, the history of terrorism, globalization vs. clash, the role of religion, nonreligious extremism and terrorism, the role of technology, terrorism throughout the modern world, responses to terrorism, fear of terrorism, short-term approaches and long-term strategies for preventing terrorism, balancing security and rights to liberty and privacy, and pathways to a safer and saner 21st century.
Hate crime is a product of civil right, disabilities rights, and crime victims' movements. This article primarily focuses on criminal justice concerns related to hate crime. Assessments of hate crime-related criminal justice policy and law enforcement practices require an understanding of the emergence of hate crime. It presents a summary of early assessments of hate crime law and concerns about bias-motivated violence as "merely symbolic politics" with minimal enforcement effects. It conceptualizes this assessment and includes a brief summary of federal and state hate crime law. The next section details the organization of hate crime enforcement and the outcomes of law enforcement practices, including data on the policing and prosecution of hate crime. Finally, it discusses the development of hate crime law and law enforcement practices beyond the United States.
Hate crime evokes hate speech, but to assimilate one with the other would not do justice to the diversity of behaviours encompassed by the expression 'hate crime'. A first overview of the notion is necessary in order to highlight the key features of offences involving hatred. A particular emphasis will be given to the specificity of cyberspace hate crimes both in the UK and in France. This comparison will enable us to tackle the main issue cyber-hate raises: that of the legitimacy and practicality of criminalizing behaviours related to hatred on the Internet. The debates may not be specific to hate crimes but they are acute for at an international level, crime notably limits a freedom of expression which does not have the same meaning both legally and culturally. The Convention on cybercrime will also be looked at, especially that its critics argue that it did not go far enough into protecting victims of hate crimes at an international level.
Jack Levin, PhD, is the Brudnick professor of sociology and criminology at Northeastern University in Boston, where he co-directs its Center on Violence and Conflict and teaches courses in the sociology of violence and hate. He has authored or co-authored 28 books, including Mass Murder: America’s growing menace, Why we hate, The functions of prejudice, Hate crimes revisited, The will to kill: Making sense of senseless murder, Domestic terrorism, Extreme killing: Understanding serial and mass murder, and The violence of hate: Confronting racism, anti-semitism, and Other forms of bigotry. Dr. Levin has published more than 150 articles in professional journals and newspapers, such as The New York Times, Boston Globe, Dallas Morning News, Philadelphia Inquirer, Christian Science Monitor, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, and USA Today. He appears frequently on national television programs, including 48 Hours, 20/20, Dateline NBC, The Today Show, Good Morning America, Oprah, The O’Reilly Factor, Larry King Live, and all network newscasts. Dr. Levin was honored by the Massachusetts Council for Advancement and Support of Education as its ‘Professor of the Year.’ He has spoken to a wide variety of community, academic, and professional groups, including the White House Conference on Hate Crimes, the Department of Justice, the Department of Education, OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (a membership of 59 countries) and the International Association of Chiefs of Police.
Hate-crime victimization against racially visible people is of growing concern and it raises questions about social cohesion in a multiracial and ethnic democracy such as Canada, particularly among immigrants across the country. Using income as a mediating factor, this article examines hate-crime victimization against visible minority groups in Canada using the Ethnic Diversity Survey. Using multinomial and binary logistic regression, the study describes the likelihood of experiencing hate crime victimization and fear of hate crime. The results indicate that hate crime and fear of hate crime depends on visible minorities’ ethnic background, above and beyond their socioeconomic status.
This article explores the practical enforcement of laws that increase criminal penalties for bias-related crimes. A review of the literature suggests that penalty-enhancement statutes are meeting some of their goals. At the same time, police implementation is highly variable, prosecutions are rare, and convictions are even rarer. This article summarizes the practical and legal hurdles to enforcement of hate crime laws, including issues regarding enforcement by local police, difficulties in proving motivation, and controversies surrounding deterrence and the larger societal impact of the laws. Because hate crime laws have been operationalized with little or no attention to societal power dynamics and social inequalities, their paradoxical consequences may include disproportionate punishment of minorities whom they were intended to protect. Furthermore, hate crime laws shine their spotlight on relatively powerless individuals at the bottom of the social order and away from the societal institutions that promote or condone discriminatory conduct.
The Hate Crime Statistics Act (HCSA) of 1990 set into motion the structure and mechanisms for identifying and collecting data on the occurrence of hate crimes in this country. In this article, the authors briefly describe the data-collection program that was developed by the FBI and others in response to the HCSA. The authors also examine the FBI's progress in implementing this program as an adjunct to the widely known Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program. Trends in law enforcement participation in the national program, along with steps being taken to improve this participation, are also examined. Also, the authors explore the future benefits that are anticipated as the UCR program shifts from a summary-based program to one that collects data on each criminal incident. Finally, the authors make general observations about hate crime in the United States based on the data currently held by the FBI.
Questionnaire data about criminal victimization experiences were collected from 2,259 Sacramento-area lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals (N = 1,170 women, 1,089 men). Approximately 1/5 of the women and 1/4 of the men had experienced victimization because of their adult sexual orientation. Hate crimes were less likely than nonbias crimes to have been reported to police. Compared with other recent crime victims, lesbian and gay hate-crime survivors manifested significantly more symptoms of depression, anger, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress. They also displayed significantly more crime-related fears and beliefs, lower sense of mastery, and more attributions of their personal setbacks to sexual prejudice than did nonbias crime victims and nonvictims. Comparable differences were not observed among bisexuals. The findings highlight the importance of recognizing hate-crime survivors’ special needs in clinical settings and in public policy.
Although violence based on sexual orientation is now widely recognized as a serious problem in the United States, social science data concerning the prevalence and consequences of such crimes are limited. In the present study, questionnaire data about victimization experiences were collected from 147 lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals (74 females, 73 males) in the Sacramento, CA area. In addition, 45 of the respondents participated in a follow-up interview. Forty-one percent reported experiencing a bias-related criminal victimization since age 16, with another 9.5% reporting an attempted bias crime against them. The distribution of bias-related victimization and harassment experiences in the sample resembled patterns reported in other U.S. surveys with similar samples. Compared to other respondents, bias-crime survivors manifested higher levels of depression, anxiety, anger, and symptoms of posttraumatic stress. Methodological and substantive issues in empirical research on hate crimes against lesbians and gay men are discussed.
This article explores the practical enforcement of laws that increase criminal penalties for bias-related crimes. A review of the literature suggests that penalty-enhancement statutes are meeting some of their goals. At the same time, police implementation is highly variable, prosecutions are rare, and convictions are even rarer. This article summarizes the practical and legal hurdles to enforcement of hate crime laws, including issues regarding enforcement by local police, difficulties in proving motivation, and controversies surrounding deterrence and the larger societal impact of the laws. Because hate crime laws have been operationalized with little or no attention to societal power dynamics and social inequalities, their paradoxical consequences may include disproportionate punishment of minorities whom they were intended to protect. Furthermore, hate crime laws shine their spotlight on relatively powerless individuals at the bottom of the social order and away from the societal institutions that promote or condone discriminatory conduct.
The Hate Crime Statistics Act (HCSA) of 1990 set into motion the structure and mechanisms for identifying and collecting data on the occurrence of hate crimes in this country. In this article, the authors briefly describe the data-collection program that was developed by the FBI and others in response to the HCSA. The authors also examine the FBI's progress in implementing this program as an adjunct to the widely known Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program. Trends in law enforcement participation in the national program, along with steps being taken to improve this participation, are also examined. Also, the authors explore the future benefits that are anticipated as the UCR program shifts from a summary-based program to one that collects data on each criminal incident. Finally, the authors make general observations about hate crime in the United States based on the data currently held by the FBI.
Questionnaire data about criminal victimization experiences were collected from 2,259 Sacramento-area lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals (N = 1,170 women, 1,089 men). Approximately 1/5 of the women and 1/4 of the men had experienced victimization because of their adult sexual orientation. Hate crimes were less likely than nonbias crimes to have been reported to police. Compared with other recent crime victims, lesbian and gay hate-crime survivors manifested significantly more symptoms of depression, anger, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress. They also displayed significantly more crime-related fears and beliefs, lower sense of mastery, and more attributions of their personal setbacks to sexual prejudice than did nonbias crime victims and nonvictims. Comparable differences were not observed among bisexuals. The findings highlight the importance of recognizing hate-crime survivors' special needs in clinical settings and in public policy.
The author re-examines his fieldwork with neo-Nazi and Klan leaders and followers. He first reviews primary findings: official movement ideology expressed crude social Darwinism and an apocalyptic struggle between Whites (humans) and Jews (children of Satan); everyday beliefs of members spoke more of a fear that they, as Whites, were going to be economic losers; leaders were intelligent, shallow men, and at core were political beings motivated more by a drive for power than by racism; members were male, young, dropouts without work skills, with a deep fear of personal annihilation—social isolates whose membership expressed personal needs that might be satisfied equally by alternative engagements. The article next asks how a working-class youth becomes a neo-Nazi activist and identifies social and personal factors, relating them to other research. It draws implications for prevention, looking at community organizing and education, and then at the relation of militant White racism to ordinary White racism.
This research investigated the psychological impact of the Shepard murder, a widely publicized antigay hate crime in 1998, on nonvictims who were members of the targeted group, through the lens of assumptive world theory. Nine people with minority sexual identities who indicated that they were deeply affected by this murder participated in semistructured interviews of 60 to 90 minutes, and verbatim transcripts were coded and analyzed using qualitative data analysis software. Participants were five men and four women ranging in age from 17 to 51. Results illustrate a vicarious traumatization effect; that is, this event challenged participant fundamental assumptions of benevolence and meaningfulness of the world and worthiness of self. Findings also reflect positive aftereffects. Strengths and limitations of the study, as well as future research possibilities, are discussed.
