Hate-Crime Victimization and Fear of Hate Crime Among Racially Visible People in Canada: The Role of Income as a Mediating Factor

Previous research has established correlations between anti-LGBTQ hate crime, fear of crime, perceived victimization risk, and the concealment of sexual orientation. Aside from correlations, the relationships between these variables remain poorly understood. Therefore, the aim of the present study is to explore the relationships between anti-LGBTQ hate crime, perceived risk, and the concealment of sexual orientation in relation to fear of crime. Based on previous research and theory, the authors hypothesize (1) that experiences of hate crime victimization increase fear of crime, perceived victimization risk, and the concealment of sexual orientation; (2) that high levels of perceived risk result in high fear of crime and a more prevalent concealment of orientation; and (3) that the concealment of sexual orientation results in lower fear of crime. The sample consists of LGBTQ students enrolled at a Swedish university. The study uses a mixed method approach, combining survey data ( N = 353) and interview data ( N = 10). The data are assessed using path analysis and thematic analysis. The path analysis supported the authors’ hypothesis regarding experiences of anti-LGBT hate crime, perceived risk, and fear of crime. The qualitative analysis showed that victims of hate crimes had a reduced ability to process negative emotions because they experienced other traumatic life events parallel to the victimization. Similarly, feelings of being reduced to a negative stereotype resulted in higher levels of both fear of crime and perceived risk. Finally, the path analysis rejected the hypothesis that the concealment of sexual orientation results in lower fear of crime. Rather than being an agency-driven and functional fear response, the interview data showed that while these practices reduced victimization risk, they negatively impacted the overall health of the participants through feelings of lack of authenticity and self-censorship.

Much of the academic, practitioner and voluntary sector interest in victims of hate crime have focused upon the impacts of hate crime and the practical and emotional support needs and services for victims. Our own work has been somewhat divergent from this. We were commissioned to identify how hate crime reporting could be improved in a northern town, and made inclusive across different equality groups. We undertook a small scale study that examined individual decision making by hate crime victims in whether or not to report incidents, and how the available reporting arrangements and associated publicity materials affected these decisions (Wong & Christmann, 2008). Somewhat to our surprise, what appeared to be a critical issue in terms of whether or not hate crime policies were likely to succeed was also a much under researched area. Whilst our own research findings cannot be generalised beyond the study site, it did allow us to test out and consider more thoroughly some of the assumptions implicit in policy developments around hate crime reporting, specifically the policy goal of full reporting. We want to reflect back on these findings and the broader research literature to pose some questions on the adequacy and utility of the current reporting agencies approaches and the general policy direction to hate crime victims. We believe this has merit because the statutory criminal justice agencies and the voluntary sector are grappling with the challenges of adopting hate crime in its broadest sense, and providing a responsive, effective and victim centred service across markedly different vulnerable groups. Pertinent questions can be asked about what the current policies on hate crime can be expected to achieve given the nature of victim decision making on the critical issue of whether to report their victimisation. We will draw out some implications that the legacy of the Lawrence Inquiry has had for strategic thinking, policy making and make some tentative suggestions on how these might be improved. We argue something that may be considered heresy among hate crime victimloogy circles and victim campaigning groups; that the current policy message concerning victim reporting does not reflect reality, and risks being discredited. What is required, some 10 years post Lawrence is more nuanced responses and ones which acknowledge: the distance travelled by criminal justice agencies in the intervening years; that the majority of hate crime is manifested as single incidents of harassment (which may not necessarily constitute crimes); and the unlikelihood of full reporting by the public, which realistically fits where the public are in terms of their expectations. In doing so we do not pretend to have any authoritative answers to these issues, but believe the questions are worth posing to prompt a debate between efficacy of response versus a largely unchallenged view of hate crime victimology.

We estimate the prevalence and characteristics of violent hate crime victimization of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in the United States, and we compare them to non-LGBT hate crime victims and to LGBT victims of violent non-hate crime. We analyze pooled 2017-2019 data from the National Crime Victimization Survey (n persons = 553, 925;n incidents = 32, 470), the first nationally representative and comprehensive survey on crime that allows identification of LGBT persons aged 16 or older. Descriptive and bivariate analysis show that LGBT people experienced 6.6 violent hate crime victimizations per 1,000 persons compared with non-LGBT people's 0.6 per 1,000 persons (odds ratio = 8.30, 95% confidence interval = 1.94, 14.65). LGBT people were more likely to be hate crime victims of sexual orientation or gender bias crime and less likely to be victims of race or ethnicity bias crimes compared to non-LGBT hate crime victims. Compared to non-LGBT victims, LGBT victims of hate crime were more likely to be younger, have a relationship with their assailant, and have an assailant who is white. Compared to LGBT victims of non-hate violence, more LGBT hate crime victims reported experiencing problems in their social lives, negative emotional responses, and physical symptoms of distress. Our findings affirm claims that hate crimes have adverse physical and psychological effects on victims and highlight the need to ensure that LGBT persons who experience hate crime get necessary support and services in the aftermath of the crime.

Hate crimes (or bias crimes) are crimes motivated by an offenders’ personal bias against a particular social group. Modern hate crimes legislation developed out of civil rights protections based on race, religion, and national origin; however, the acts that constitute a hate crime have expanded over time, as have the groups protected by hate crimes legislation. Anti-LGBT hate crimes, in which victims are targeted based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. LGBT people are highly overrepresented as victims of hate crimes given the number of LGBT people in the population, and this is especially true of hate crimes against transgender women. Despite the frequency of these crimes, the legal framework for addressing them varies widely across the United States. Many states do not have specific legislation that addresses anti-LGBT hate crimes, while others have legislation that mandates data collection on those crimes but does not enhance civil or criminal penalties for them, and some offer enhanced civil and/or criminal penalties. Even in states that do have legislation to address these types of hate crimes, some states only address hate crimes based on sexual orientation but not those based on gender identity. The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act gives the federal government the authority to prosecute those crimes regardless of jurisdiction; however, this power has been used in a limited capacity. Hate crimes are distinct from other crimes that are not motivated by bias. For example, thrill seeking, retaliation, or the desire to harm or punish members of a particular social group often motivates perpetrators of hate crimes; these motivations often result in hate crimes being more violent than other similar crimes. The difference in the motivation of offenders also has significant consequences for victims, both physically and mentally. Victims of hate crimes are more likely to require medical attention than victims of non-bias crimes. Likewise, victims of hate crimes, and especially anti-LGBT hate crimes, often experience negative psychological outcomes, such as PTSD, depression, or anxiety as a result of being victimized for being a member of an already marginalized social group.

Hate crimes undermine tolerance and social inclusion by conveying an ‘outsider’ status of the victim and other group members to the broader community. Using the Australian Community Capacity Study (ACCS) data, this chapter explores the concentration of hate crime in Brisbane. First it explores whether non-victims recognise hate crime incidents their neighbourhood and considers how the neighbourhood context influences the association between residents’ perceptions of hate crime and self-reported hate victimisation. It goes on to identify the most salient neighbourhood demographics associated with violence and property hate crime incidents and the protective factors that could reduce these incidents, focussing specifically on place attachment, social cohesion and trust and contact with neighbours. Finally, as hate crime has a significant and deleterious effect on victim well-being, we specifically examine the impact of hate crime victimisation on a residents’ engagement in their community.

Studies have demonstrated that hate crime victimisation has harmful effects for individuals. Victims of hate crime report anger, nervousness, feeling unsafe, poor concentration and loss of self-confidence. While victims of non-hate crimes report similar feelings, harm is intensified for hate crime victims due to the targeted nature of the incident. While there is some evidence that experiencing or even witnessing hate crime may have a detrimental effect on residents’ community life, the effects of being victim of a hate crime inside one’s own neighbourhood remain unstudied. Using census data combined with survey data from 4396 residents living across 148 neighbourhoods in Brisbane, Australia, this study examines whether residents who report hate crime within their own neighbourhood differ in their participation in community life when compared to victims of non-hate crime or those who have not been victimised. This is the first study to focus on victims’ views on: how welcoming their neighbourhood is to ethnic diversity; their attachment to their neighbourhood; their frequency of social interactions with neighbours; their number of friends and acquaintances in the neighbourhood; and their fear of crime. Results from propensity score matching (PSM) indicate that there are important differences in patterns of neighbourhood participation across these three groups.

ABSTRACTHate crimes remain pressing traumatic events for sexual orientation minority adults. Previous literature documents patterns in which hate crime victimization is associated with elevated risk for poor mental health. The present paper held 2 aims to advance literature. First, we investigated the rates and types of hate crime victimization among sexual orientation minority adults. Second, adopting a mental health amplification risk model, we evaluated whether symptoms of depression, impulsivity, or post-traumatic stress exacerbated the hate crime victimization–suicide risk link. Participants were 521 adult sexual orientation minority-identifying members of the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom (i.e., a bondage and discipline, and sadomasochism-identifying sexuality special interest group). Participants completed demographic and mental health inventories via online administration. Results showed: (1) low rates of total lifetime hate crime victimization and (2) higher rates of interpersonal violence compared to property crime victimization within the sample. Regression results showed: (1) independent positive main effects of all 3 mental health symptom categories with suicide risk; (2) an interaction pattern in which impulsivity was positively associated with suicide risk for non-victims; and (3) an interaction pattern in which post-traumatic stress was positively associated with suicide risk for hate crime victims and non-victims. Results are discussed concerning implications for trauma-informed mental healthcare, mental health amplification models, and hate crime and suicide prevention policies.

Violent crime victims often do not report their victimization to the police. While still infrequent, victims may instead (or also) contact non-police (i.e., informal) outlets like counselors, victim service providers, or friends and family. However, it is unclear if the decisions to seek police and/or non-police (“informal”) help differ among hate and non-hate crime victims. Given existing evidence that hate crime victims are more likely to experience greater psychological distress than other victims, it is important to understand how people targeted because of their identities request assistance to mitigate these unique consequences. Using the first wave of the Longitudinal Hate Crime Victimization Survey – Pilot (LHCVS-P), this study examines variation in (1) help-seeking among hate and non-hate crime victims and (2) reasons for reporting or not reporting to the police in tandem with other help-seeking decisions. Implications for improving connections to victim support resources to address unique post-victimization needs are discussed.

This research explored the content of hate crime prototypes in a North American context, with particular attention to how such prototypes might influence blame attributions. In Study 1a, participants were recruited from a blended sample of universities (n = 110) and community members (n = 102) and asked to report their thoughts about typical hate crime offenses, victims, and offenders. These open-ended responses were coded, and common themes were identified. In Study 1b, a new group of participants (n = 290) were presented with these themes and asked to rate each for their characteristics of hate crimes. Studies 1a and 1b confirmed the presence of a clear prototype of hate crimes, such that (a) perpetrators were believed to be lower status White men with clear expressions of bias, (b) hate crime offenses were believed to be acts of interpersonal violence accompanied by slurs or verbal abuse, and (c) hate crime victims were thought to be members of a marginalized group who remain passive during the offense. Study 2 explored the consequences of victim prototypes on assessments of victim blame. Participants (n = 296) were recruited from York University and presented with a case vignette that varied the prototypicality of a victim of hate, depicting him as either Black or White and either passive, verbally responsive, or physically confrontational in the context of an assault. Participants showed greatest sympathy for the Black victim who passively ignored verbal harassment but increasingly assigned blame when the Black victim spoke or reacted physically. When the victim was White, participants showed little variation in their assessment of blame as a function of the victim's behavior. These results suggest that Black victims are subjected to greater behavioral scrutiny than White victims and that sympathy for victims of hate may be contingent on their passivity in the face of harassment.

This chapter presents hate crime patterns and trends using data from the UCR Hate Crimes Statistics Program and the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). Comparisons are made between these two data collection systems, noting where the NCVS and UCR agree and differ in findings regarding the occurrence of hate crime. We observe overall and recent trends from the UCR data for all hate crime, and for hate crimes separated into bias motivation categories, bias types, and offense types. Using data from the NCVS, we show patterns among hate crime victims and offenders. We exhibit how the strengths of each of these data collection systems can be utilized to better understand the nature and scope of hate crime in the United States.

The wage opportunities afforded different racial groups vary considerably. We present a new analysis of wage differentials for different visible minority groups in Canada which also accounts for immigration background, using the first wave of the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics. With the exception of Black men, we find no statistically significant wage disadvantage for visible minorities who are native born. It is primarily among immigrants that wage differentials for visible minority membership exist. Our results suggest that policies to achieve a colour-blind Canadian labour market may have to focus more on immigrant assistance and less on traditional employment equity legislation.

In October 1998, Matthew Shepard, a young gay student at the University of Wyoming, was brutally murdered. Upon hearing the news, many Americans described him as a victim of a hate crime. Others, however, proclaimed Shepard a gay martyr. This declaration was not simply political rhetoric. Despite long-standing conservative religious opposition to homosexuality, they believed that Shepard had been granted salvation and a place among the saints in heaven. This article addresses the questions, “How and why was Matthew Shepard declared a popular martyr?” More specifically, how does this popular martyrdom relate to contemporary debates surrounding civil rights for gays and lesbians in America? As part of a series of social movements that followed the Second World War, sexual minorities have struggled to claim legitimate space in American society, leaving dramatic social changes in their wake. Noting this, while contrasting the news media’s construction of Shepard with the simultaneous popular discussion on the Internet, this article argues that a long tradition of popular martyr-making came together with social and political circumstances at a certain historical moment to transform the obscure victim of a hate crime into a popular martyr residing in heaven. That is, although the news media constructed Shepard as simply the affable young victim of a fatal hate crime, these contingencies allowed many Americans to reconstruct Shepard as a popular martyr. They expressed this belief in political, cultural, and social action. In time, Shepard's popular martyrdom helped further a growing acceptance of gays and lesbians into America's mainstream.

This paper presents findings from the All Wales Hate Crime Project. Most hate crime research has focused on discrete victim types in isolation. For the first time, internationally, this paper examines the psychological and physical impacts of hate crime across seven victim types drawing on quantitative and qualitative data. It contributes to the hate crime debate in two significant ways: (1) it provides the first look at the problem in Wales and (2) it provides the first multi-victim-type analysis of hate crime, showing that impacts are not homogenous across victim groups. The paper provides empirical credibility to the impacts felt by hate crime victims on the margins who have routinely struggled to gain support.

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. 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. 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. 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.

The primary purpose of the current study was to understand immigrant hate crime victimization in the U.S. Specifically, the authors analyzed the most recent data from the National Crime Victimization Survey to explore the factors that influence hate crime experiences and reporting by immigrant victims. Results from the binary logistic regression analyses revealed significant relationships between immigration status, citizenship status, number of prior incidents experienced as well as certain demographic characteristics and being the victim of a hate crime. Overall, being an immigrant or non-citizen, was associated with an increase in odds of being the victim of a hate crime. In terms of victims’ reporting of hate crime, immigration status had no impact, but the number of incidents experienced, being married and being less educated significantly increased reporting among victims. Numerous recommendations are provided, however, the most important step forward is the creation of a legal status category within the UCR’s Hate Crime data collection coupled with several legal protections for victims.