Hate Crime Research Articles

A phenomenological understanding of the intersectionality of ageism and racism among older adults: Interpersonal experiences

Summary This qualitative, phenomenological study explored the lived experience of the intersectionality of ageism and racism among older adults, with a focus on interpersonal experiences. Fifteen participants 60+ years of age (M = 67, SD = 7.45) in the U.S. Mountain West identifying as Black, Latino(a), Asian-American/Pacific Islander, or Indigenous engaged in a 1-hour interview. A three-cycle, inductive coding process involved five coders who independently coded interviews and engaged in critical discussion to resolve disagreements. An audit trail, member checking, and peer debriefing enhanced credibility. Findings The results detail four umbrella themes and nine subthemes. The subthemes demonstrate experiences of the intersectionality of ageism with racism reflected through (1) increased disrespect, (2) cultural differences in respect for elders, (3) tokenization, (4) physical appearance, (5) being ignored or discriminated against due to others’ discomfort, (6) intersecting experiences of pity, hate, and violence, (7) unspoken bias (including racial profiling), (8) microaggressions: questioning intelligence/ability, and (9) microaggressions: slurs. Multiple themes highlighted how ageism may be racialized through stereotypes related to mental (in)capability. Applications Social work practitioners and researchers can apply the findings from this study to explore interventions aimed at reducing interpersonal, racialized ageist microaggressions related to mental incapability. At the community level, anti-racism and anti-ageism initiatives should collaborate by applying an enhanced understanding of the ways ageism and racism intersect through pity, hate, and violence particularly in public settings such as shopping centers. The findings from this study can also help shape policies aimed at reducing racial profiling and hate crimes toward older adults of color.

Anti-Palestinian racism and the criminalisation of international solidarity in Europe

In this polemic against state policies and sections of the mainstream media in France, Germany, Italy and the UK since 7 October 2023 in relation to Israel/Palestine, the author exposes the ways in which a concerted anti-Palestinian racism interacts with civilisational racism and the criminalisation of international solidarity. The piece, based on speeches and briefings by the author in 2023–24, foregrounds the attack on the Palestinian diaspora in Europe. It focuses on the way a moral panic around shows of solidarity with Palestine have been fomented; the suppression of the works of artists, academics and public figures, including prominent Jewish anti-Zionists, who question official narratives; the equation of solidarity with terrorism and antisemitism and hence a reframing of what constitutes ‘hate crimes’; and the restrictions on the right to protest.

Ethnic Identity and National Unity in Ethiopia: Challenges and Opportunities for Building National Consensus

<i>Background</i>: Ethiopia's rich ethnic diversity has long been a defining feature of its social landscape. The coexistence of numerous ethnic groups within the country offers both opportunities for cultural enrichment and challenges for the formation of a coherent national identity. Historical, political and social dynamics have shaped the complex interplay between ethnic identity and the quest for national unity, warranting a critical examination of the converging forces influencing the socio-political fabric of Ethiopia. <i>Objective</i>: This study aims to systematically analyze the challenges and opportunities related to ethnic identity and national unity in Ethiopia in order to identify ways to build a sustainable national consensus amidst ethnic diversity. By shedding light on the nuanced dynamics of ethnic identity formation, social cohesion and political agency, the study aims to identify strategies that promote inclusive nation building while respecting the diversity of Ethiopia's ethnic mosaic. <i>Main Findings</i>: The study examined the historical roots of ethnic identity formation in Ethiopia and shed light on the legacy of various cultural traditions, historical grievances and political developments that have shaped contemporary perceptions of ethnicity. It also critically assessed the impact of ethnic federalism, decentralized governance and ethno-nationalist aspirations on the overall quest for national unity and cohesive statehood. Furthermore, the study explored the challenges posed by inter-ethnic tensions, identity-based conflicts and socio-political fragmentation, while identifying the potential opportunities for promoting dialog, reconciliation and inclusive citizenship to strengthen national consensus. <i>Methodology</i>: Using a qualitative approach, the research draws on a comprehensive analysis of secondary sources, including academic papers, historical documents, policy papers and ethnographic accounts. By synthesizing insights from different disciplines such as anthropology, political science and social history, the study has created a holistic understanding of the multi-layered dimensions of ethnic identity and national unity in Ethiopia. <i>Conclusion:</i> The complex dynamics of ethnic identity and national unity in Ethiopia underscore the need for inclusive policies that respect the diverse cultural heritage while promoting a common national identity, recognizing historical grievances, addressing inter-ethnic tensions and fostering dialog. Balancing the diverse ethnic mosaic within a unifying national narrative is critical to moving towards sustainable nation building.

Views of Intermarried Couples: Implications for Social Work Practice.

Intermarriage, defined here as the marriage between people of different races or different ethnicities, is on the rise in the United States, with one in six newlyweds intermarrying. While public opinion approval of interracial marriage is at an all-time high, racial and ethnic hate crimes are also on the rise, which can affect spouses differently based on their identity. Drawing on a 2022 Qualtrics sample of 287 spouses who intermarried and have children, authors of this article sought to learn what is related to their holding a positive view of intermarriage. Talking openly with one's spouse about differences, children initiating discussions about race, and being consciously aware of the interracial or interethnic aspect of the marriage were predictors. Implications for social work practice, which are predicated on the ability to have open communication between family members and the social worker's comfort with their own racial identity, are included for this growing population of intermarried couples.

Are Black Offenders Disproportionately Victimizing Asian Americans During the COVID-19 Pandemic? Comparison to Expected Racial Distributions and the Pre-Pandemic Period

ABSTRACT During the COVID-19 pandemic, reports of violence against Asian Americans surged in traditional and social media, often depicting an Asian victim attacked by a Black assailant and suggesting heightened Black animosity toward Asian Americans. Scholars have challenged this Black-Asian conflict narrative by highlighting that White perpetrators commit over 75% of anti-Asian hate crimes. However, the large share of White offenders in anti-Asian hate crime may simply reflect American racial demographics, and Black offenders could be disproportionately victimizing Asian Americans relative to the size of the Black population or offender pool. The current study examined the share of Black offenders in violence against Asian victims relative to the racial composition of local populations or offender pools. Analysis using 2020 NIBRS and Census data indicated overrepresentation of Black offenders in violence against Asian victims relative to the weighted average of the Black population proportion of the 351 cities in which such incidents occurred. However, Black offenders’ share of violence against Asian victims closely matched the proportion Black in the average local potential offender pool. Comparison of 2019 and 2020 data indicated an increase in Black offenders’ share of violence against Asian victims, but this difference in the distributions was not statistically significant.

Out-Group Threat and Xenophobic Hate Crimes: Evidence of Local Intergroup Conflict Dynamics between Immigrants and Natives

Out-Group Threat and Xenophobic Hate Crimes: Evidence of Local Intergroup Conflict Dynamics between Immigrants and Natives

Political transexclusion and transhate in social networks

Studies on social exclusion towards transgender individuals have used the term transphobia to refer to violent behaviors against trans people. The objective of this qualitative study is to critically analyze the use of the term transphobia, its suitability, and the possibility of replacing it with the term transhate, given its functionality in accurately identifying hate crimes and other practices of social exclusion towards trans individuals. From a methodological standpoint, the research was based on the grounded theory approach, considering its relevance in generating theories from the data obtained from social networks in the analyzed context. Among the most noteworthy results of the study, using this methodology, is the identification of codes related to political trans-exclusion and trans-hate, a situation that ultimately contributes to the preservation of a social system of trans vulnerabilization. It is thus established that trans-hate is a cause of political trans-exclusions and other vulnerabilizations towards trans identities in all social spheres, namely: family, education, and health, among others. In summary, this study highlights the urgent need to address transhate and political transexclusion as systemic forms of vulnerabilization against transgender individuals. In fact, the adoption of the term "transhate" in the legal and academic fields could mark a turning point in the fight against hate crimes and discrimination.

Interpellation and group polarization: Aspects of group hatred

AbstractGroup hate, a phenomenon increasingly prevalent in recent world history, manifests in ethnic hatred, mass killings, terrorism, and war. In this context, psychoanalysis offers a unique perspective, modestly contributing to the understanding of group hate through the analysis of human aggression and defenses against such aggression. Human beings, while requiring a group life to maintain basic security, often fear being immersed and judged by other individuals in the group. This paper delves into three mechanisms, interpellation, group polarization, and projective identification, that individuals employ to defend against such fears. Interpellation, for instance, sheds light on how cultural forces, referred to as ideology, influence personal identity. The latter two mechanisms, group polarization, and projective identification, foster in‐group solidarity and hatred of the out‐group, thereby perpetuating widening splits and cycles of hatred and vengeance between groups. The paper concludes by advocating for the humanization of the hated others, setting aside fantasies of vengeance, and finding areas of compromise as the way forward. A secondary goal of the paper is to address the split within psychoanalysis between intrapsychic and interpersonal concepts.

Temporal Dynamics of Online Sentiments: Investigating the Impact of Real-World Events on #StopAsianHate Twitter Movement

Stop Asian hate has been a heated topic on social media platforms because of the increase in Asian hate after the breakout of COVID-19 and hate crimes caused by Asian hate. The hashtag #StopAsianHate on Twitter points out that making proper consensus decisions can be an effective way to spread the impact of hate crimes and attract more attention to Asian hate to call for actions to stop Asian hate. To gain more theoretical knowledge for consensus decisions and guidance of public opinion, this study used MDCOR and tools developed by our researchers to analyze posts under tweets (opened answers) posted under the hashtag #StopAsianHate (from March 1, 2022, to August 31, 2023). The tools being used can directly analyze the open answers on Twitter, providing the study with the identification of topics and sentiment analysis. Through the analysis of 5-month data, which is far longer than other research, the dynamic of the publics opinion and sentiment is clearly shown. By understanding the shifts in public opinion and sentiment, more valid strategies for advocacy of anti-racism are hoped to be found.

The Impacts of Social Media on Changing Mass Attitudes Towards Asian Hate in the U.S. During the COVID-19 Outbreak in the U.S.

In this study, our primary research focus was on analyzing the changes in anti-Asian sentiment within the United States during the mid-to-late stages of the outbreak. The authors conducted a critical examination of the context surrounding the 2019 outbreak to explore its correlation with the escalation of anti-Asian sentiment in the United States. First, it is found that historical perceptions, such as the Native American concept of "yellow peril" stemming from the Opium War and the notion of "white privilege" within the mindset of white individuals, could have contributed to the emergence of the anti-Asian phenomenon. Furthermore, the discourse that unfolded on the Internet in response to the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in changes in native Americans perceptions of Asian hate. Our research identified a noticeable surge in racially motivated hate crimes during the pandemic, as indicated by publicly available data. These incidents were predominantly characterized by instances of physical violence and harassment. Asian hatred has seriously disrupted the daily lives of Asian residents in the U.S. This phenomenon may have arisen from the general belief among most Americans that the pandemic originated in Asia, coupled with long-standing tendencies to view Asians as outsiders irrespective of their duration of residence in the U.S. To address these issues, our study aims to compare trends in anti-Asian sentiment before and after the epidemic by analyzing Twitter data from both periods. The authors also conducted a comparative analysis of relevant literature and books to formulate hypotheses explaining the variations in Americans' attitudes toward anti-Asian sentiments across the two timeframes. Ultimately, our goal is to advocate for the cessation of such unequal behavior and the establishment of equality for all.

The Role of Moral Disengagement, Self-Efficacy and Social-Anxiety in Secondary School Teachers’ Prejudice: A Person-Centered Approach

Teachers play a crucial role in fostering inclusive school environments for students from diverse backgrounds. However, harboring prejudiced attitudes towards minority students can have adverse social and psychological effects on these individuals. This study investigates the ethnic and homophobic prejudice profiles of Italian secondary school teachers (N = 552, Mage = 46.15, 76.4% females) using a person-centered approach. It explores how these prejudice profiles predict moral disengagement mechanisms, self-efficacy, and social anxiety among teachers. Participants completed assessments on subtle and blatant ethnic prejudice, attitudes toward the representation of homosexuality, moral disengagement, self-efficacy in teaching, and social anxiety. Latent profile analysis identified three prejudice profiles among teachers: low, moderate, and high prejudice. The results, based on a structural equation model, revealed that teachers with high prejudice profiles were more likely to employ moral disengagement mechanisms and reported higher levels of social anxiety. The study underscores the significance of interventions and monitoring efforts tailored to educators, encompassing their social, moral, and individual dimensions.

Military-Aggressive Crime as A Subject of War Criminology

The article is devoted to the study of military-aggressive crime as a subject of war criminology. It is established that military-aggressive crime is an extensive system of criminal practices based on crimes of aggression. Armed aggression against Ukraine as a foreign policy manifestation and consequence of the functioning of the Russian fascist political regime has as its consequence and accompanying manifestations a number of violent war crimes, crimes against humanity, as well as genocidal practices. They determine a backlash in the form of a system of violent war-related crimes. On this basis, two epistemological blocks are distinguished in the structure of military-aggressive crime: crimes of action and reaction. They are interconnected. The first determines the second. A number of war criminals among Ukrainian combatants, as well as civilians, who commit aggressive and violent hate crimes are caused by previous crimes against them, representatives of their community. It is stated that there is a paradoxical international legal situation when ongoing aggression as an internationally wrongful act of the State is recorded in various formats and at various levels, including the highest level of the UN, but at the same time, the international community does not respond to the crime of aggression in the forms inherent in criminal justice.

Briefs

University cancels valedictorian speech, citing pro‐Palestine safety concerns Michigan State investigating alleged hate crime University police officers to respond to off‐campus safety concerns amid officer shortage University hospital employee living under fake identity for 30 years

LGBTQ+ Hate Crimes: Understanding Victim Reasons for Non-Reporting

Matthew Shepard became a symbol of LGBTQ+ hate crimes and the lack of legislation surrounding the topic in 1998. Despite the length of time which has passed, Nolan et al. and Pezzella et al. cite a significant concern in the continued underreporting of hate crimes and the discrepancy between federal crime reports. By analyzing data from the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), Concatenated File, 1992 to 2021, this study focused on unreported LGBTQ+ hate crimes; specifically hate crimes based on sexual orientation. The findings, obtained through descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, and binary logistic regression, highlight the significance of police perceptions and victim-offender relationships as predictors of non-reporting, with policing perception being the strongest factor.

Religious coping and delinquent behaviors: Moderated mediation roles of religion affiliation and prosocial moral reasoning.

Religion has been shown to have a positive impact for developing adolescents; however, the processes underlying this relation are not well known. In his almighty prosocial theory, Anazonwu (Conceptualizing and testing almighty prosociality theory for a more peaceful world, SCOA Heritage Nigeria, 2017) proposed that the activation of learnt prosocial moral reasoning through religion enabled performance of prosocial peace behavior that will benefit society. Thus, religion coping enhances the development of prosocial reasoning which in turn propagate prosocial acts while reducing delinquent behaviors. Similarly, developmental system theory (Lerner, Developmental science, developmental systems, and contemporary theories of human development, John Wiley & Sons, 2006) assumed that in every individual three mechanisms: plasticity (potential to change), context (environment), and developmental regulation (learnable principles) interact to describe the direction of the transactions between individuals and their various embedded sociocultural context of development which will also determine other developmental outcomes. Based on these two theoretical assumptions, the present study examined whether prosocial moral reasoning (developmental regulation) was the mechanism in the negative correlation between religious coping (plasticity) and delinquent behaviors (outcome), and if religious affiliation(context) (Christianity and Islam) moderated these paths. We hypothesized that the link from prosocial moral reasoning to lower delinquent behaviors would be stronger for Muslim compared with Christian youth. These questions were tested among Nigerian adolescence, an important sample because of high interreligious and interethnic tension among youth in the country. 298 adolescents (Mean age = 15.03 years, SD = 1.76; male = 176, female = 122; 46.3% Muslim, 53.7% Christian) were sampled using questionnaires in senior secondary schools in Nigeria. Moderated mediation result shows that greater religious coping was linked with higher prosocial moral reasoning, which in turn predicted fewer delinquent behaviors. Religious coping interacted with religion affiliation to influence delinquent behavior; there was a stronger link between these two constructs for Muslim compared to Christian youth. Thus, interventions aiming to reduce youth delinquent behaviors should consider promoting prosocial moral reasoning, particularly among the various religions (i.e., Christian/Muslim) communities.

Our Fight Has Just Begun: Hate Crimes and Justice in Native America

Book review

Racism Experienced by Callum and His Family in Malorie Blackman's Noughts + Crosses'

Racism has been a prevalent issue ever since the concept of race was known to mankind, due to this fact, a lot of kinds of racism emerged in society.This study explained the experiences of Callum and his family through the levels of racism as well as how they responded towards the racism itself in the novel Noughts + Crosses by Malorie Blackman. This study itself is a literary criticism focusing on sociological approaches by employing two theories, one by Camarra Phylis Jones named levels of racism (2000) and the second one is multimotive theory by Richman & Leary (2009). Based on the analysis of this study, the first level of Jones’ theory seems to be the most prominent out of the three which is the institutional racism, the characters in this novel were restricted or has limited access to quite a lot of government infrastructure, silenced voice, as well as small quantity of representative in power. While the personally-mediated racism manifested itself through the suspicion of minorities; especially Callum, lack of respect from the Crosses, devaluation of minorities’ capabilities, scapegoating, and dehumanization through hate crime and police brutality. In internalized racism there is also evidence of whiteness as in Lynette’s case where she believes herself to be black as well as self-devaluation by the characters themselves for example Ryan who used the slur word to his own race. Callum and his family responded with various types of response, such as Jude who is leaning towards being more aggressive after the experience of racism while Callum at least try to regain relational value within the society with relationship-promoting response as well as trying to exclude or withdraw himself from the society with avoidance or withdrawal response.

Us, them and we: How national and human identifications influence adolescents' ethnic prejudice.

Although there have been numerous studies on the relations between group identification and ethnic prejudice, it is less clear whether their associations reflect stable individual tendencies or rather situational or temporal fluctuations. This longitudinal multilevel study aimed to fill this gap by examining the between- and within-person associations of identification with the national and superordinate human groups and levels of prejudice against multiple ethnic minorities. A total of 883 Italian majority adolescents (Mage = 15.66, SD = 1.15 at T1, 49.7% females) completed questionnaires at four time points over the course of 1 year. Results showed that national identification was related to more prejudice at the between-person level but to decreases in prejudice at the within-person level. Additionally, human identification contributed to lower levels of and steeper decreases in prejudice at both the between- and within-person levels. Common and unique associations also emerged across different ethnic minority targets, but only for between-person effects. Overall, this study highlights the importance of distinguishing stable individual levels and momentary fluctuations of both ingroup identifications and ethnic prejudice in order to orient future interventions aimed at improving the quality of intergroup relationships.

Ethnic closure and immigrant residential segregation in Spanish working-class neighbourhoods

Given the difficulties of integration of the immigrant population and the demographic importance that this population is set to have in European society, this research uses an initial territorial approach and a subsequent qualitative analysis to study the internal residential dynamics of immigrants in five Spanish working-class neighbourhoods with a significant presence of foreign-born people. The analysis focuses on the role that ethnic prejudice and other factors, such as social class, play in the processes of initiation and maintenance of residential segregation of the immigrant population. Our results show a residential division characterised by advantages for the native population and, especially, by the acceptance of inequality by the immigrant population, which may be contributing to the fact that levels of ethnic prejudice from the native population are, so far, not very high in these neighbourhoods.

"If we don't forgive, it's like holding on to them": A qualitative study of religious and spiritual coping on psychological recovery in older crime victims.

There is growing need to strengthen support for older crime victims. We aimed to explore spiritual and/or religious (S/R) beliefs in a sample of older victims and understand how this shapes psychological responding and coping with crime. Qualitative study with supplementary descriptive statistics nested within a clinical trial. We explored psychological responding and coping in-depth through semistructured interviews with 27 older victims of police-reported crime, purposefully sampled to achieve maximum variation. We inductively analyzed data using a reflexive thematic analysis. We assessed the breadth of S/R beliefs in a large sample (N = 402) of initially distressed older victims using an abbreviated version of The Royal Free Interview for Spiritual Beliefs. We assessed continued psychological distress using the two-item Generalised Anxiety Disorder and Patient Health Questionnaire 3 months postcrime. Over two-thirds (67%) identified as S/R, but psychological distress scores were similar, irrespective of religiosity. Our qualitative analysis suggests that crime may impact religious identity or practice in some older victims (hate crime) but influences attitudes or coping in others. Positive coping included acceptance, forgiveness, and/or turning to prayer or faith communities. Negative coping included fixation on retribution, superstition, perceived abandonment by God, or an inability to accommodate the crime within their beliefs, amplifying psychological distress. Understanding the psychological impact on older crime victims is enhanced by clarifying the role of S/R. Further research, especially on non-Christian religious victims, is needed. Cultural awareness training for trauma counselors and trauma awareness training for faith leaders is recommended. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).