Social Disorganization and Hate Crime across Ohio

• In Event: Poster Session II

Abstract

Researchers have argued that hate crime is a distinct form of crime/aggression (Craig 2002; McDevitt, Levin, and Bennett 2002) and that the study of hate crime needs to focus on the relationship between this specific type of crime and other forms of social conflict (Grattet 2009; Green, McFalls, and Smith 2001) as well as to examine the utility of different criminological theories for explaining hate crimes in varying contexts. However, because research on hate crime is relatively new, both the existing data surrounding hate crime and the attempts at testing classical criminological theories are limited. In an attempt to answer this call, this paper tests social disorganization theory by examining hate crime across various counties in Ohio using data from the 2015 Hate Crime Supplement to the UCR as well as data from the U.S. Census Bureau. This work can help us to further understand how community and larger societal factors can influence hate crime perpetration across varying contexts.

Author

• Breanna Stewart, University of Akron