Poster #121 - Proving “Hate”: Evidence of Bias and Victim Reporting Trends in Hate Crime Incidents

• In Event: Poster Session II (posters 80 – 155)

Abstract

Hate crime sits at the intersection of legal classification and social interpretation, requiring both a criminal act and evidence of bias motivation. However, bias is often ambiguous, and victims rely on observable cues—such as slurs, symbols, or contextual indicators—to
interpret whether an incident reflects targeted prejudice. There is little empirical evidence exploring the impacts of this subjectivity. Drawing on victimization research and sociolinguistic theory, this paper conceptualizes overt bias indicators as communicative signals that may shape perceptions of seriousness and legitimacy, and hypothesizes that explicit bias indicators will be associated with increased victim reporting likelihood to law enforcement. Using pooled cross-sectional data from the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) from 2023 to 2024, a linear probability model estimates the relationship between overt bias evidence and reporting behavior while controlling for victim, offender, and incident characteristics. Findings from this work will contribute to clarifying how victims interpret and respond to bias-motivated harm and to address gaps in existing work that may not fully capture the complexity of bias perception in hate crime incidents and its implications for victim reporting behaviors.

Author

• Amanda Izes, University of Maryland