Measuring Hate Crime Victimization

Session Submission Type: Complete Thematic Panel

Abstract

Existing research indicates that bias incidents and crimes are more prevalent than official reported crime data would suggest. Our ability to understand the magnitude of underreporting is hampered by a dearth of tools to measure behavioral indicators of bias crime victimization. The first two presenters on this panel will provide new information from NIJ-funded studies that are developing instruments to measure bias crime victimization experiences. The first presentation provides information on the development of the Youth Bias Victimization Questionnaire (YBVQ) based on data collected from focus groups and pilot survey of youth ages 10-21. The second presentation will focus on an effort to develop and validate a Bias Crime Assessment Tool (BCAT) that can be used by law enforcement and community organizations to improve responses to hate crime, especially among Hispanic, immigrant, youth and LGBT communities. The final presentation examines the demographic and incident characteristics associated with a failure to report violent hate crime victimizations to police using data from the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). Discussion on applications for new measurement tools will follow the presentations.

Sub Unit

• Area VI. Victimology / 28. Patterns and Trends in Victimization

Division of Special Interest

• Divisions of Special Interest / Division on Terrorism & Bias Crime

Individual Presentations

• Developing the Youth Bias Victimization Questionnaire (Y-BVQ): Pilot Data from Youth in Boston, Philadelphia, and Rural Tennessee - Lisa Jones, University of New Hampshire; Heather Turner, University of New Hampshire; Kimberly Mitchell, University of New Hampshire; Sherry Hamby, Life Paths Appalachian Research Center; Carlos Cuevas, Northeastern University; Amy Farrell, Northeastern University; Brian Daly, Drexel University

• Questioning Bias: Validating a Bias Crime Victim Assessment Tool in California and New Jersey - Laura Simich, Vera Institute of Justice; Jacob Kang-Brown, Vera Institute of Justice

• Factors Associated With Reporting Hate Crime to Police in the NCVS - Lynn Langton, Bureau of Justice Statistics

Chair

• Carrie Mulford, National Institute of Justice

Discussant

• Jack McDevitt, Northeastern University