Fear of crime, avoidance behavior and loss of trust in institutions following hate crime victimization in minority groups

• In Event: Hate crime victimisation

Abstract

Hate crime, understood as crime motivated by prejudice, has become increasingly important in science, media and political discourse in Germany in recent years. However, empirical research on the extent of hate crime and its consequences in Germany is rare. To expand empirical data on this topic, the State Office for Criminal Investigation of Lower Saxony conducted a large-scale crime victimization survey focusing on hate crime in Hanover. We examined how different groups are affected, how hate crimes are dealt with and the consequences of what had been experienced. In total, our data contains n = 7,411 observations.
We will present descriptive analyses on hate crime victimization in minority groups. Those findings reveal that hate crime victims show lower trust in institutions, higher levels of cognitive and affective fear of crime as well as increased avoidance behavior and spatial sense of insecurity. To further examine these possible consequences of hate crime, we propose multivariate analyses to explore the general structural relationship of the measured and latent variables and to estimate the effect of hate crime victimization on the aforementioned factors. The multivariate results differ from descriptive results, suggesting mediation effects. These findings will be discussed, providing an important empirical basis for discussions about consequences of hate crime victimization that are relevant not only in a scientific but also in a societal and political context.

Authors

• Lukas Boll, State Office for Criminal Investigation Lower Saxony

• Thorsten Garrels, State Office for Criminal Investigation Lower Saxony

• Alexander Gluba, State Office for Criminal Investigation of Lower Saxony (LKA Niedersachsen), Germany

• Viktoria Bosold, State Office for Criminal Investigation of Lower Saxony