Faith, Fear, and Intervention: Unravelling Dynamics in Religiously Motivated Hate Crimes through a Factorial Survey

• In Event: The Global Phenomenon of Hate Crimes: Perspectives from Individual Protected Groups

Abstract

Religious hate crimes, particularly those motivated by religious factors, severely impact young victims, increasing their vulnerability to depression and suicidal tendencies. The sizable underreporting of these incidents underscores the need for thorough investigations, including diverse methodologies like self-reported surveys and experiments. While current research mainly focuses on victims, offenders, and law enforcement, religiously motivated hate crimes often occur in public spaces, necessitating an examination of bystander dynamics. This study, comprising surveys and vignette experiments across four countries with 1000 respondents each (N=4000), has three main objectives: understanding attitudes toward hate crime sanctions, analysing bystander behaviour in simulated hate crime scenarios, and investigating how victim characteristics influence intervention willingness. Specifically, the presentation will focus on the third objective (N=2000), exploring the 'who, why, and for whom' in hate crime scenarios, with a focus on the victim's religion. The discussion will unveil preliminary results, address unexpected findings, and outline implications for future research. Through this analysis of attitudes, bystander behaviour, and victim characteristics, the study aims to contribute to hate crime prevention efforts and provide insights into the decision-making of potential helpers.

Author

• Sophie Litvak, University of Helsinki