Assessing the risk and prevalence of hate crime victimization in Western Europe
| DOI | 10.1177/0269758015627046 |
| Published date | 01 May 2016 |
| Date | 01 May 2016 |
| Author | John Van Kesteren |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
Assessing the risk
and prevalence of
hate crime victimization
in Western Europe
John Van Kesteren
Tilburg University, The Netherlands
Abstract
This article presents results of multivariate and multi-level analyses of data on hate crime victi-
mization from 14 Western European nations. Although the ethnic composition of immigrant
communities shows considerable variation across the 14 countries, in all countries self-defined
immigrants are disproportionately exposed to hate crimes. The level of hate crime prevalence is
positively correlated with the size of the immigrant communities. The results of a loglinear analysis
of individual risks of being victimized by hate crime show that young age and migrant status are the
most important independent risk factors of hate crime victimization at the individual level. Other
important risk factors are residence in a capital or other large city, low income and an outgoing
lifestyle. These risk factors resemble those of victimization by common contact crimes. This result
suggests that, although the motivations of offenders are different, the distribution of hate crime
victimization at the individual level can to some extent be interpreted through general victimo-
logical theories such as lifestyle-exposure theory. These analyses were replicated with a multi-level
analysis including data at the macro level on the characteristics of 229 European regions. In this
analysis, known criminogenic factors of contact crimes at the macro level, such as the proportion
of young males, low income and low employment, are included in the models, besides the pro-
portion of migrants among the inhabitants of the region. The results confirm the salience of the
previously identified independent risk factors at the individual level. At the macro level, the relative
size of migrant communities per region stands out as the most important factor explaining variance
in hate crime prevalence. No independent relationships were found between the socio-economic
or demographic characteristics of European regions and the extent of hate crime victimization.
The latter results confirm findings of similar analyses of data from the USA. They suggest that in
Western Europe hate crimes are driven by cultural tensions between traditional inhabitants
and immigrants (community defense hypothesis), rather than by the strain experienced by the
Corresponding author:
John Van Kesteren, INTERVICT – Tilburg University, Warandalaan 2, 5037 AB Tilburg, The Netherlands.
Email: john.v.kesteren@gmail.com
International Review of Victimology
2016, Vol. 22(2) 139–160
ªThe Author(s) 2016
Reprints and permission:
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DOI: 10.1177/0269758015627046
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perpetrators (economic threat hypothesis). The unexpected finding that levels of educational
attainment of European regions are associated with higher levels of hate crime victimization cannot
be easily interpreted with either of the two hypotheses about the causes of hate crime victimi-
zation. It is tentatively interpreted as a measurement artifact resulting from heightened sensitivity
to various types of hate crime victimization among better-educated minority groups.
Keywords
Hate crime, migrants , victimization surve y, risk factors, multi -level analysis, int egrated threat
theory
Introduction
In the twenty-first century, hate crimes have become a political concern in many parts of the world,
including the USA, Canada, Australia and Europe (Chakraborti, 2012; European Monitoring
Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC), 2005; European Union, 2007; Green et al., 2001;
Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC), 2004 cited in Johnson, 2005). A
hate crime is defined as ‘a criminal act which is motivated, at least in part, by the group affiliation
of the victim’ (Gerstenfeld, 2004: 9).
Distinct elements of the definition are that:
The act must be a criminal offence, regardless of the motivation of the offender;
It must have been committed, at least in part, out of prejudice or hatred towards the victim as
representative of a specific social group.
Hate crimes are – inter alia – directed at groups characterized by immigrant or ethnic status,
race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or disability. According to some authors, hate crimes are
typically directed at marginalized groups and are meant, in the words of Perry, to reaffirm ‘the
threatened (real or imagined) hegemony of the perpetrator’s group and the ‘appropriate’ subordi-
nate identity of the victim’s group’ (Perry, 2001: 29, 2009). In connection with crimes targeted at
the elderly, disabled persons, or subcultural minorities, this structural view of hate crimes has been
critiqued. According to Garland, the harassment of such groups may be motivated by fear or hatred
of difference rather than by supremacist feelings (Garland, 2010, 2012). Qualitative interviews
with migrants have found that racially based threats and attacks have a negative impact on victims
and their communities, resulting in an increase in fear, a growing sense of alienation, a distrust of
authority and an eventual reluctance to engage with police (HREOC, 2004, cited in Johnson, 2005;
Perry and Alvi, 2011). A topical manifestation of hate crimes is retaliatory attacks against members
of Muslim communities in the aftermath of terrorist attacks by Muslim fundamentalists (Collins,
2007; Spalek, 2005). The social tensions emerging in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in
Brussels, Copenhagen, and Paris in recent years are a case in point.
Data sources on hate crimes
Data on the incidence of hate crimes canbe retrieved from registrationsof police forces, prosecutors
and courts or bespoke agencies such as Complaint Boards for acts of discrimination, or from
dedicated hotlines (Dauvergne and Brennan, 2011). Within the European Union, since 2000 the
140 International Review of Victimology 22(2)
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