Reporting Hate Crime to Police Among Asian Americans

• In Event: An Exploration of Asian-American/Pacific Islander (AAPI) Victimization Research in Criminology and Criminal Justice Sciences

Abstract

While hate crime has been increasing in the United States over the past several years, hate crime victimizations against Asian Americans have increased more than crimes against other groups. Research suggests that the unique stereotypes of Asian Americans, such as the model minority, may also decrease the likelihood that Asian American victims will report hate crimes to police. If these victimizations are never reported, the criminal justice system is unable to enhance the specific deterrence effects to offenders nor general deterrence to would-be offenders. Unfortunately, virtually no research has examined the factors related to the police reporting behavior of Asian American hate crime victims. Using data from the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), this study examines the contextual characteristics of hate crime incidents and victims that both increase or decrease the likelihood of a victimization being reported to police across racial/ethnic subgroups. As expected, Asian Americans were one of the least likely to report hate crimes to police net of other important variables such as injury. Consistent with previous research, indicators of crime seriousness including weapon presence, injuries, and receiving medical care for injuries all increased the likelihood that victimizations were reported to police across all racial/ethnic subgroups.

Authors

• Yoon Sik Kim, University of Delaware

• Ronet Bachman, University of Delaware