How Does Hate Hurt More? National Evidence for the Varying Emotional Impacts of Hate Crime

• In Event: Examining Offending, Victimization and a Rehabilitative Approach for Those Most Affected

Abstract

The last 20 years have witnessed substantial growth in the recognition of the profound negative impacts of hate crime, with many criminal justice systems adopting sentencing approaches that hold the perpetrator accountable for the additional harm these offences cause to victims. While this added sentencing penalty, based on the premise of additional harm, may be supported through a retributive lens, there is comparatively little robust empirical evidence which demonstrates that hate crimes hurt victims more than similar non-hate crimes. This lack of evidence leaves open the possibility that ideologues may challenge the harms of hate as a way of attacking hate crime itself and those the legislation was designed to protect. Using eight years (2012/13-2019/20) of the nationally representative Crime Survey for England and Wales, hierarchical linear modelling was used to disentangle the unique emotional impact of hate motivated violence (from non-hate motivated violence) and hate motivated vandalism (from non-hate motivated vandalism). The results generally support the notion that hate hurts more, particularly for racist and homophobic violence and gender and disability-related vandalism. However, victims of religiously motivated vandalism experienced reduced emotional impacts than those who experienced non-religiously motivated vandalism. The limitations and implications of these unique results are discussed.

Authors

• Ian Brunton-Smith, University of Surrey

• Jon Garland, University of Surrey

• Darrick Jolliffe, Royal Holloway University of London