The harms of hate

Abstract

Studies have demonstrated that hate crime victimisation has harmful effects for individuals. Victims of hate crime report anger, nervousness, feeling unsafe, poor concentration and loss of selfconfidence. While victims of non-hate crimes report similar feelings, harm is intensified for hate crime victims due to the targeted nature of the incident. While there is some evidence that experiencing or even witnessing hate crime may have a detrimental effect on residents' community life, the effects of being victim of a hate crime inside one's own neighbourhood remain unstudied. Using census data combined with survey data from 4396 residents living across 148 neighbourhoods in Brisbane, Australia, this study examines whether residents who report hate crime within their own neighbourhood differ in their participation in community life when compared to victims of non-hate crime or those who have not been victimised. This is the first study to focus on victims' views on: how welcoming their neighbourhood is to ethnic diversity; their attachment to their neighbourhood; their frequency of social interactions with neighbours; their number of friends and acquaintances in the neighbourhood; and their fear of crime. Results from propensity score matching (PSM) indicate that there are important differences in patterns of neighbourhood participation across these three groups.

Risk Factors for Victimization and the Impact of Victim Status on Perceptions of Police Legitimacy in Australia

“…A breakdown of victim groups demonstrates that 1.08% of the 4,256 survey respondents were victims of a PMC, while 16.73% were victims of a non-PMC, compared to 82.19% who indicated no victimization within the past 12 months. These percentages closely resemble Chongatera's (2013) findings in the Canadian context (1.6% PMC victims, 15.8% non-PMC victims and 82.7% non-victims) and Benier's (2017) findings in the Australian context, with 1.87% of the survey sample reporting PMC victimization.…”

“…Victimization context matters and it is, therefore, important to not examine victims as just one homogenous group or in isolated studies (Murphy & Barkworth, 2014). Previous research already highlights some important differences between victim groups in that being a PMC victim can have an effect on important aspects of people's lives (e.g., Benier, 2017;Chongatera, 2013). For example, recent work by Benier (2017) in the Australian context has assessed differences in community participation of PMC, non-PMC and non-victims, and has found that PMC victims displayed lower feelings of safety in their community, took part in fewer neighboring activities, had fewer friends within the neighborhood, and less place attachment compared with non-PMC victims.…”

“…There is only limited existing research that describes the differences between PMC victims, non-PMC victims 1 and non-victims (e.g., Benier, 2017;Chongatera, 2013), and the impact that victim status can have on perceptions of police legitimacy remains underexplored. This paper contributes to the body of literature exploring differences between these victim groups and the risk factors for victimization in Australia by analyzing the National Security and Preparedness Survey (2011)(2012).…”

Perceptions of Police Legitimacy and Citizen Decisions to Report Hate Crime Incidents in Australia

“…While there is little information regarding who PMC victims are in the Australian context, there is some evidence that the majority of people who indicate they are the victims of a PMC are primarily native-born, English speaking Australians. Research by Benier (2017) on the Brisbane, Queensland, sample of the Australian Community Capacity Study (a longitudinal study of community processes, crime and disorder) also shows similar patterns in self-report data. Benier's (2017) study showed that only 35 per cent of PMC victims were foreign born, and only 29 per cent of PMC victims spoke English as a second language.…”

“…Research by Benier (2017) on the Brisbane, Queensland, sample of the Australian Community Capacity Study (a longitudinal study of community processes, crime and disorder) also shows similar patterns in self-report data. Benier's (2017) study showed that only 35 per cent of PMC victims were foreign born, and only 29 per cent of PMC victims spoke English as a second language. Thus, in the Australian context, the majority of self-reported hate crimes are not from victims who experience barriers due to their belonging to minority groups.…”