Residents’ assessments of hate crime in the neighborhood: Can they reliably predict hate crime victimization?

• In Event: Hate Crime Victimization

Abstract

Ecological studies of hate crime predominantly rely on official police data to identify the characteristics of neighborhoods where hate crime is more likely to occur. Yet administrative data significantly underrepresents the prevalence of hate crime. Key agencies in the UK, Scotland and Australia are using anonymous witness accounts of incidents that appear to be motivated by prejudice or hate to target problem areas. Using witness assessments of hate crime incidents has the potential to overcome some of the limitations associated with official reports and may provide a more robust approach to identifying and targeting problem neighborhoods. In this paper we use survey data from over 4000 residents (including an ethnic booster sample of Indian, Vietnamese and Middle Eastern residents) across 148 neighborhoods to examine if self-reported hate crime victimization is more likely to occur in areas where residents identify hate crime as a problem. We also assess whether other neighborhood characteristics are better predictors of hate crime victimization when compared to residents’ assessments. We find that although residents’ assessments do reliably predict hate crime victimization, other contextual neighborhood features may be sufficient for identifying neighborhoods where hate crime is a problem.

Authors

• Michelle Sydes, University of Queensland

• Rebecca Leigh Wickes, University of Queensland

• Kathryn Benier, University of Queensland

• Angela Higginson, University of Queensland