The Dark Figure of Hate Crime Underreporting

Dados Bibliográficos

ID3758059
AutoresFrank S Pezzella (John Jay College of Criminal Justice, autor correspondente), Matthew D Fetzer (Shippensburg University, Shippensburg, PA, USA), Tyler Keller (0000-0002-7911-9332, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ, USA)
Ano2019
Páginas000276421882384
Data de publicação2019-01-28
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoAmerican Behavioral Scientist (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0002-7642 • E-ISSN: 1552-3381
EditoraSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0002764218823844
OpenAlexW2914841973
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas53
Referências citadas22

Hate crimes are notoriously underestimated evident by significant differences reported between the Uniform Crime Report (UCR) and the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). Between 2004 and 2012, an average of 269,000 victimizations were reported by the NCVS; simultaneously, UCR hate crime statistics reported an average of 8,770 incidents (FBI UCR Hate Crime Statistics, 2004-2012) implicating sizable hate crime underreporting. We present two hypotheses to explain the dark figure of hate crime reporting. First, we hypothesize that bias crime victims, relative to nonbias crime victims, are less likely to report their victimization to police. Second, we hypothesized that misperceptions of police legitimacy by groups with strained relations with police who are also at risk for hate victimization explain declinations to report. Using stepwise logistic regression, controlling in subsequent models with victim, offender, and situational factors previously found to increase nonbias crime victim reporting, we detected an increasingly stronger propensity for bias crime victims to not report their victimization. We also found that victim misperception of police legitimacy evident by the absence of confidence (29.2%) and victim decisions to report to different official (22.3%) largely explain underreporting. Implications for victim perceptions of police legitimacy and their ability to discharge procedural justice are discussed. Improved public relations with communities who sustain a strained relationship with police in conjunction with proactive, clear enforcement policies, and practices are suggested

Crime statistics · Criminal justice · Criminology · Dark figure of crime · Hate crime · Law enforcement · Legitimacy · Perception · Poison control · Political science · Politics · Procedural justice · Situational ethics · Victimisation · Crime Patterns and Interventions · Hate Speech and Cyberbullying Detection · Human Factors and Ergonomics · Law · Psychology · Social and Intergroup Psychology · Social Psychology