The Effects of Hate Crime Legislation: Unproven Benefits and Unintended Consequences

Abstract

Despite most states' widespread adoption in the past 10 years of hate crime laws, researchers and policy-makers have been unable to measure the actual incidence or types of hate crimes being committed. Simply, there are no national data available on arrests or convictions for hate crimes. Ironically, while virtually all researchers have reported that hate crime has been increasing, the findings reported in this article indicate that hate crime incidents appear to have decreased 25% in the past 5 years. Also, despite the intent of legislators, the findings indicate that black persons comprise the only racial group, as identified by the FBI and Census Bureau, that are characterized as hate crime offenders (20% of the total number of offenders) in a proportion greater than their proportion in the general population (13%). It was concluded that to determine the actual implications of hate crime legislation, especially on minority group members, researchers might consider adopting a new methodology.