Hate Crime Research Articles

From Tweets to Streets: Observational Study on the Association Between Twitter Sentiment and Anti-Asian Hate Crimes in New York City from 2019 to 2022.

Anti-Asian hate crimes escalated during the COVID-19 pandemic; however, limited research has explored the association between social media sentiment and hate crimes toward Asian communities. This study aims to investigate the relationship between Twitter (rebranded as X) sentiment data and the occurrence of anti-Asian hate crimes in New York City from 2019 to 2022, a period encompassing both before and during COVID-19 pandemic conditions. We used a hate crime dataset from the New York City Police Department. This dataset included detailed information on the occurrence of anti-Asian hate crimes at the police precinct level from 2019 to 2022. We used Twitter's application programming interface for Academic Research to collect a random 1% sample of publicly available Twitter data in New York State, including New York City, that included 1 or more of the selected Asian-related keywords and applied support vector machine to classify sentiment. We measured sentiment toward the Asian community using the rates of negative and positive sentiment expressed in tweets at the monthly level (N=48). We used negative binomial models to explore the associations between sentiment levels and the number of anti-Asian hate crimes in the same month. We further adjusted our models for confounders such as the unemployment rate and the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. As sensitivity analyses, we used distributed lag models to capture 1- to 2-month lag times. A point increase of 1% in negative sentiment rate toward the Asian community in the same month was associated with a 24% increase (incidence rate ratio [IRR] 1.24; 95% CI 1.07-1.44; P=.005) in the number of anti-Asian hate crimes. The association was slightly attenuated after adjusting for unemployment and COVID-19 emergence (ie, after March 2020; P=.008). The positive sentiment toward Asian tweets with a 0-month lag was associated with a 12% decrease (IRR 0.88; 95% CI 0.79-0.97; P=.002) in expected anti-Asian hate crimes in the same month, but the relationship was no longer significant after adjusting for the unemployment rate and the emergence of COVID-19 pandemic (P=.11). A higher negative sentiment level was associated with more hate crimes specifically targeting the Asian community in the same month. The findings highlight the importance of monitoring public sentiment to predict and potentially mitigate hate crimes against Asian individuals.

Unacceptable Experiences Whilst Attending University and Their Association With Student Mental Health, Well-Being and Academic Outcomes

Introduction: Unacceptable experiences (UEs) are commonly reported by undergraduate students. However, their prevalence and impact have not been rigorously studied. Objectives: To (1) estimate the prevalence of UEs, (2) identify high-risk subgroups, and (3) examine associations with mental health and academic outcomes among undergraduate students attending Queen's University. Methods: Data from the 2021/2022-2023/2024 cycles of the U-Flourish Student Well-Being Survey were collected at the beginning and completion of each academic year. Validated symptom measures included the GAD-7 (anxiety), PHQ-9 (depression), C-SSRS (suicidal thoughts and behaviours), and WEMWBS-7 (well-being). Self-reported UEs included: sexual violence or harassment, physical assault, bullying, hate crimes, and discrimination. Multivariable regression examined associations between UEs and student mental health, and grade-point average (GPA) from linked university data. Results: One-third (28.9%) of students (n=797/2,757) reported an unacceptable experience over the academic year. Sexual violence or harassment and discrimination (15%) were most frequently reported, followed by bullying/harassment (11%), hate crimes (4.6%) and physical assault (3.3%). UEs were highest in students who identified as non-binary gender (49%), 2SLGBTQIA+ sexuality (39%) or had a history of mental illness (41%). These UEs increased the risk of reporting clinically significant anxiety and depressive symptoms by 5-18% and 11-40%, respectively, and Students reporting UEs were also more likely (2-59%) to report having suicidal thoughts and behaviours over the academic year, particularly those who experienced sexual violence (RR:1.59; 95% CI:1.10-2.23). There was evidence that sexual violence, bullying, and hate crimes were associated with lower GPAs among first-year students. Conclusion: UEs are common among undergraduate students and are associated with significant negative mental health and well-being outcomes. Further research is needed to better understand the nature of these UEs and the mechanisms by which they impact student mental health and academic performance. This information is pivotal to develop evidence-informed prevention and early intervention initiatives.

Building “Something That Lasts”

Abstract This article analyses Jewish reactions to post-Holocaust hostility and discrimination in Norway, through three case studies: (1) Trials against Nazis and Norwegian collaborators in the National Legal Purge of the immediate postwar years. (2) The 1960 ‘Swastika Epidemic,’ characterized by graffiti on properties and threats against Jewish individuals, which prompted Jewish community efforts to promote an anti-racist bill. (3) The trial against neo-Nazi high school teacher Olav Hoaas in 1976, among the first to be convicted in accordance with the new Article 135a of the law against incitement to racial hatred. Using archival records from the Jewish community and press material, this study explores how the actors defined and developed response strategies against antisemitism. The article explains the integrationist function of combatting antisemitism, as individuals asserted themselves as part of the national community by defending Norway’s democratic values. It highlights collective action and alliances in countering antisemitism, marking Norway as an early example legislating against racism in Europe after 1945.

Understanding community hate crimes as an incorrigible proposition: Local political attitudes, path dependence, and the ceremonious reporting of hate crime statistics

AbstractThe Hate Crime Statistics Act (HCSA) of 1990 requires the federal government to publicly release official hate crime statistics annually; the HCSA does not, however, mandate that local agencies submit hate crime reports to the government in the first place. Although research has evaluated the reporting of hate crime statistics in a dichotomous fashion (compliance vs. noncompliance), the current study suggests that the consistent and invariable reporting of zero hate crimes in a particular jurisdiction over time is unlikely and thus better conceptualized as a third response strategy: ceremonious compliance. We examine this strategy as a potentially unique institutional behavior, structured by local political and historical contexts, including discursive differences in the identification of hate crime as an important social problem, and localized histories of racial oppression. This research then uses multilevel multinomial logistic regression models to estimate variation in the likelihood of differential compliance strategies (i.e., true compliance, ceremonious compliance, noncompliance), according to several political and historical factors, including Republican vote share, location in the Confederate South, and historical lynchings. Findings reveal that political and historical contexts are important predictors of agency responses to hate crime, with a particular tendency toward ceremonious compliance in Republican‐leaning locales.

Detecting hate crimes through machine learning and natural language processing

ABSTRACT Misidentification and misreporting of hate crimes by victims and law enforcement are significant barriers to accurate data collection of hate crimes, and their consequent study and prevention. The use of machine learning in crime detection can improve the accuracy and speed at which reported incidents with bias elements are identified. This study develops a machine learning classifier that categorizes police reports as either events with bias elements or events with no bias elements. We use incident/offense reports from the Seattle Police Department to train a Natural Language Processing classification algorithm. We collect narratives, location data, and victim and suspect demographics to use as features. We evaluate the performance of logistic regression, random forest, and XGBoost algorithms, as well as several text embedding techniques. Despite substantial class imbalance, our model achieves a macro F1-score of 0.79, demonstrating the benefits of applied machine learning in accurately detecting and reporting hate crimes.

Effects of Victim Race on Police Arrests for Hate Crimes

Despite significant public concern, previous research on hate crimes has been limited and inconclusive regarding whether police discriminate against racial minority victims when clearing hate crimes through arrests. To address this gap, we analyzed the 1992–2019 data from the National Incident-Based Reporting System, measuring victim race by both the actual and targeted races in anti-race offenses. When using the latter measure, our findings reveal significant results: the arrest rate was generally higher in inter-racial cases, where offenders targeted a race different from their own, than in intra-racial cases, where they targeted the same race as their own. However, the arrest rate was lower, not higher, when white offenders committed a non-index anti-black offense than when they committed a non-index anti-white offense, which may suggest the possibility of racial discrimination in police arrests that extends beyond mere racial disparities.

When ethnic minorities hit the headlines: The longitudinal associations between news features and adolescents' ethnic prejudice.

Ethnic prejudice poses great challenges to adolescents' adjustment to multicultural societies. However, little is known about the role of the media in influencing attitudes in adolescence. Combining information environment and ecological development theories, the current study examined the longitudinal associations between the quantity, valence (i.e., neutral, positive, and negative), and target (i.e., migrant, refugee, and foreigner) of the news about ethnic minority groups and youth's affective and cognitive prejudice. In total, 962 adolescents (Mage = 15.67, 48.13% females) completed questionnaires at two time points, and news data were gathered from a national newspaper. While news quantity did not matter, positive and negative news were respectively associated with reduced and increased levels of cognitive, but not affective, prejudice. Nuanced associations emerged when accounting for the news target. Results were replicated regardless of adolescents' direct consumption of newspapers. These findings highlight the role of the information environment and suggest the need to account for it in planning interventions.

Hiding the Hate—Contextual Effects on Hate Crime Reports

This study examines the influence of local norm shifts driven by white supremacist ideology on hate crime reporting by US law enforcement agencies. Results show a substantial association, indicating a threefold increase in expected hate crimes reports in counties experiencing a spike in local hate group activity. Specifically, Republican vote share acts as a moderator, reducing reported hate crimes by 23% in counties with strong Republican support and right-wing hate group presence. Adjacent Republican counties also show a 13% reduction in expected reports, suggesting a spillover effect. Beyond local politics, a regional impact is evident; Northeastern counties with higher right-wing hate group presence show a 23% lower incidence rate. Using longitudinal data from the FBI UCR, SPLC, MIT Election Lab, and the US Census (2010–2020), through negative binomial regressions, this study highlights how right-wing hate groups can affect law enforcement’s enforcement of general civil rights depending on the local context.

Hating Women: A Constitution of Hate in Plain Sight.

In April 2023, the U.K. government announced that misogyny would not be categorized as a hate crime stating that this "may prove more harmful than helpful." This article argues that before and beyond hate crime, misogyny, understood as the hatred of women (from the Greek misein [hate] gynae [women]), is the foundational logic of our legal, social, and political order in the west. This constitution of hate relies on the active dehumanization, exploitation, and ownership of women's bodies by the institution of white men through making women the object of the "colonization of the everyday." This exhausting hatred is enacted through repetitive, unceasing, and everyday violence toward women. Simply put, patriarchal, colonial, capitalist democracy is only sustained through violence against women. Hating women is, therefore, not a pathology of society but rather is the necessary existence condition of our legal-political constitution, clear to see yet hiding in plain sight. Misogyny ensures the precarity of women's bodies and women's status as trespassers in everyday spaces that are deliberately always already misogynistic. Given the foundational nature of misogyny, did the government have a point in excluding endemic violence against women from hate crime as "more harmful than helpful?" Is hate crime merely constitutive of a cultural matrix of misogyny? This paper enacts a decolonial feminist prism to disrupt the cultural condition of misogyny by thinking hate crime together with legal-political constitutional and cultural change. The paper explores violence against women set against the historical emergence of misogyny from Greek dehumanization, to medieval persecution of "witches," the muzzling and banning of women from public spaces, Shakespeare's "Taming," to contemporary femicide rates. Interrogating hate crime through this prism offers nuanced routes for how to disrupt the legal-political constitution of misogyny that is neither hidden nor new. Misogyny is enduring.

Working "With" Not "On" Disabled People: The Role of Hate Crime Research within the Community.

For many disabled people, violence can become an unwanted, yet ordinary part of everyday life. Often, these crimes are attributed to understandings of disabled people as vulnerable and largely, passive victims. Attending to the aims of this special issue, this paper aims to dismantle these stereotypes and attend to the unique ways that disabled people can resist and respond to hate crime through creative and collaborative research practices. Building upon this, I argue that there is a pressing need for hate studies researchers to work "with" and not "on" those who have experienced targeted violence. Working in this way builds upon long-standing efforts of disabled activists and disabilities studies researchers to challenge reductive research practices by working in more collective and inclusive ways. To demonstrate this, I reflect upon a project working in partnership with disabled people to create a disability hate crime toolkit. The toolkit, now published, shares accessible and informative resources that can be used to raise awareness about disability hate crime. While the focus of this paper is disability, I consider methods of collaboration, co-production and participation that can be drawn upon by researchers to respond to hate crime and interpersonal violence more broadly.

Hidden Hate, Hidden Violence: Dismantling Myths and Identifying Fresh Challenges for Research and Policy.

Hate crime has become an increasingly familiar term within global scholarship, with advancements in conceptual understanding and empirical knowledge helping to generate improved policy responses across many parts of the world. However, the continued demonization of 'other' identities, the escalating volume of hate incidents worldwide and the prevailing climate of rising tensions, decreasing resources and political de-prioritization all suggest that many urgent challenges remain. Contributors to this special issue have dismantled common stereotypes and misperceptions which hamper our collective capacity to address contemporary expressions of hate and violence. In doing so, they draw from their research evidence to identify "hidden" challenges which should be at the forefront of attempts to address the causes, effects, and prevention of all forms of violence. This call for reconfiguration is the unifying theme which runs through each article, and which paves the way for more nuanced analyses that offer new frameworks for responding to the diverse and changing patterns of violence. These are challenges which straddle disciplinary boundaries, geographical borders, and the physical/digital world, and which demand the international, intersectional, and interdisciplinary perspectives evident within this special issue.

Beyond the Binary: The Issue of Intra-Minority Hostility and the Need to Challenge Conventional Victim/Perpetrator Frameworks Within Hate Studies.

It is well-established within the hate studies literature that the majority of hate crimes and incidents of targeted hostility are perpetrated by those in the "majority" society. In the UK, academic and official research consistently shows that young White, British males are most commonly the culprits of all forms of targeted victimization, especially racist hate. However, urban areas of "super-diversity" offer researchers an opportunity to understand hate crime victimization and perpetration in a more nuanced and comprehensive way. Hate studies research has slowly begun to highlight instances of people from marginalized and stigmatized groups being targeted on the basis of their identity by individuals who are also members of minority groups, sometimes even the same minority group as the victim. Very little is understood about this particular victimizing dynamic other than it appears to be an attempt by minority group members to "fit in" by adopting what they perceive to be majority group values and attitudes. By drawing from 44 qualitative in-depth interviews exploring the experiences of new migrants and refugees and observations from 20 months of grassroots engagement, this article challenges established theories of "othering" that overwhelmingly refer to binary, static majority/minority tensions. The stories of these too-often "hidden" victims of targeted hostility offer a fresh perspective on the relationships between victims of hate and perpetrators. The article also contributes new explanations as to why those who are often targeted go on to target others.

Israel's Zangwill; or, The Return of the King of Schnorrers

Abstract This article explores Israel Zangwill's posthumous presence in Israeli culture, as reflected in various media and discursive arenas: press coverage of his death and Yahrzeits; trends in the translation, publication and staging of his works; the inauguration of streets bearing his name; and references to his views and legacy in various political debates. Demonstrating how the tensions and contradictions so typical of Zangwill's persona were interpreted by cultural commentators or appropriated by opposing political camps, the first part of the article traces and contextualises Zangwill's gradual disappearance from the Israeli cultural mainstream. The second part then moves on to consider Zangwill's unexpected comeback in 2021, when a musical production of The King of Schnorrers, adapted by Nati Brooks, was staged in Tel Aviv. While the renewed interest in Zangwill's work is rooted specifically in the playwright's Anglo-Jewish background, the production employs Zangwill's 1790s Jewish London to consider ethnic tensions in present-day Israel.

Narratives and counter-narratives as ways of creating religious tolerance

This article explored the utilisation of counter-narratives in tertiary education settings with regard to pseudo-events connected to big world events. The occurrence that this article focused on was the pseudo-events connected to the Israel–Hamas war that started in October 2023. These pseudo-events refer to a surge in Islamophobic and anti-Semitic hate crimes in countries outside the warzone. Two narrative examples are given that can be utilised within education settings; however, educators can look beyond the given examples and utilise other counter-narratives. Creating awareness of surges in discriminatory occurrences with the use of counter-narratives may increase humanisation and intersectional awareness in students.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: This article was written from a religious studies perspective, with the aim of increasing religious tolerance within societies. This article is based on a quantitative literature review and narrative theories.

‘Doesn’t anyone care anymore?’ – Bystander intervention to hate crime

While previous studies have focused on bystander intervention, current understanding specifically in the area of bystander intervention to hate crime is limited. This study seeks to focus on bystander intervention to hate crime in the United Kingdom. This study utilised 10 semi-structure interviews with participants who had personally witnessed a hate crime incident, exploring reasons for intervention, or lack thereof. Results revealed that for some who intervened, the decision to do so often stemmed from an instinctive, impulsive place, whereas for others it was a calculative decision-making process. The findings also reveal that there are various factors which influence participants in deciding whether to intervene. Critically, while all factors were described as pivotal to influencing participants in choosing whether to intervene or remain bystanders, there was no hierarchy of factors which can be generalised. The study concludes that the decision to intervene is a complex multi-faceted process and promotes awareness-raising about the various options available when witnessing a hate crime.

Long-term trends in mental health disparities across sexual orientations in the UK: a longitudinal analysis (2010-2021).

In the context of increasing hate crimes, legislative challenges, and anti-LGBTQ + sentiment, we conducted the first study that comprehensively examined long-term mental health disparities across sexual orientations in the UK from 2010 to 2021. Prior studies predominantly relied on cross-sectional or limited longitudinal designs, thus failing to capture evolving trends over a decade and providing crucial insights into the dynamics of mental health challenges faced by sexual minorities, essential for devising targeted public health interventions and policies. Waves 2-12 of the UK Longitudinal Household Survey for adults (n = 52,591) were used. MCS-12 (Mental Health Component Scale of the Short-Form Health Survey) for mental functioning and GHQ (General Health Questionnaire) for psychological distress were included as the main outcomes, along with other measures of well-being. Mixed-effect longitudinal models were used to examine the trends of mental health disparities across sexual orientations. Relative to their heterosexual counterparts, psychological distress (GHQ) increased for gay men, lesbians, and women with "other" orientations. Bisexual women saw the steepest increase from 1.69 higher GHQ vs. their heterosexual counterparts in 2010 (95%CI: 0.81 to 2.57), up to 3.37 in 2021 (95%CI: 2.28 to 4.45). Similar trends were also shown in the other measures. The study highlights increases in mental health disparities between sexual minorities and heterosexuals. The escalating psychological distress among sexual minorities, particularly bisexual women, calls for an urgent, multi-faceted, and intersectoral response. This approach must address both symptoms and the social structures perpetuating these disparities across sexual orientations.

God and Group: The Religious Ecology of Hate Crimes Against Jews and Muslims in the United States

In the United States, hate crimes that are motivated by religious bias disproportionately impact minoritized religious groups. This study investigates religious ecological predictors of hate crimes against Jews and Muslims in the US, drawing on theories of religion and intergroup offending. Measures of areal religious composition and change are drawn from two waves of the US Religion Census. Multilevel logistic regression models predict incidence of anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim hate crimes across county-years (2010–2018), adjusting for law enforcement agency coverage, hate crime reporting, and social and political factors. Christian adherence and overall religious diversity are associated with lower incidence of anti-Jewish hate crime. Jewish and Muslim adherence are positively associated with anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim hate crime, respectively, and counties undergoing relatively large increases in Muslim adherence have heightened incidence of anti-Muslim hate crime. Implications for theory and policy, as well as opportunities for future research, are discussed.

Understanding Racism and the Role of Identity Politics in Anti-Racism Movements in America

The matter of racism is a complex issue concerning various humanities problems such as inequality in human rights, unfair treatment and unequal access to material resources. This dilemma has existed in various multicultural communities, for example America, where racial diversity is directly proportional to racist crime, which is among the highest in the world. According to The FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, the number of hate crimes with racial or ethnic-related motivation accounts for 60 percent of incidents occured in 2020 in Ameria. The fight against racial injustice is a challenging battle that demands long-term involvement and systematic change, starting from both the advocates and the community. Therefore, strategic goals and methods are essential to providing effective campaigns against racial discrimination. In this case, advocates and leaders must be aware of the challenges that lead to the ineffectiveness of current anti-racism movements and increase the quality of those advocating campaigns. Using qualitative methods, this research study seeks to answer that problem through the investigation of the origin and definition of racism with the aim of further understanding the issue and defining the cause of ethnic inequality. Moreover, analysis of different types of racism and colour-blind theories is also provided, which helps determine the outcome and long-term strategy for improved campaign organization. Combating against racism is a complex process that can only be influential if campaign leaders, politicians and activists come up with a productive and sustainable strategy that can oversee the ultimate goal of promoting race equality.

Predictive Influence of Proposed Rural Grazing Area (RUGA) on Communal Security in Ogun West Senatorial District, Nigeria

This study examines the predictive influence of the Nigerian government's Rural Grazing Area (RUGA) policy on communal security in the Ogun West senatorial district. Despite RUGA's aim to mitigate herder-farmer conflicts by establishing designated grazing areas, the policy faces significant opposition due to ethnic tensions, land use conflicts, and concerns about Fulani herder dominance. Using a mixed-methods approach, data were collected from 500 respondents across five local government districts in Ogun West. Quantitative analysis using regression models revealed that RUGA significantly impacts communal security (R = 0.728, R² = 0.530, p < 0.001), social harmony (B = 0.874, t = 25.537, p < 0.001), community engagement (B = 0.862, t = 29.741, p < 0.001), and ethnocentric, religious, and socioeconomic issues (B = 0.869, t = 29.278, p < 0.001). However, the policy does not significantly predict the readiness of nomads to settle (B = 0.032, p = 0.586) or the preparedness of local people to accept the scheme (B = 0.051, p = 0.366). These findings indicate that while RUGA has the potential to enhance social and community engagement outcomes, its success is hindered by the lack of readiness and acceptance among key stakeholders. The study recommends increased engagement and sensitization efforts to enhance nomads' readiness and local acceptance, ensuring the policy's successful implementation and contribution to inclusive economic development.

Teaching as Epistemic Mistrust

AbstractLong portrayed as a virtuous profession, teaching has always been embedded in notions of trust and trustworthiness. Alongside expectations of epistemic cultivation and development, is an implicit handing over of discretionary powers to ‘the trusted teacher’. At the height of #blacklivesmatter protests in 2020, however, high school learners all over South Africa took to social media—@yousilenceweamplify—to express their hurt and anger at their dehumanising experiences at some of the country’s leading schools. Their accounts not only exposed some schools as intense sites of racial, religious, cultural, ethnic, and linguistic tension and conflict, but shattered presumptions about ‘the trusted teacher’. Following a consideration of what trust infers, and the potential harms that arise from epistemic mistrust, the paper considers what might be gained from philosophical engagements in the espousal of teaching as a relationship of epistemic trust, and which ensures the flourishing of both learner and teacher? How might philosophy of education assist teacher education programmes in attuning students to an understanding that being trustworthy as teachers resides in self-knowledge as well as knowledge of the differences of, and among others?