Abstract
Objectives
Bridging the power-relation framework with prejudice and bias studies, this study examines how individuals perceive and construct racial hate crimes.
Methods
This study employs a factorial survey experiment with randomized vignette assignments to obtain insights into respondents’ judgment principles. Participants (N = 2635) were recruited through Mechanical Turk and were asked to read a fictional scenario that could be considered a racial hate crime. Logistic regression models are estimated, followed by moderation analyses and margins tests.
Results
The results support an integrated model that both the power dynamics between the victims and the offenders and the prejudice and beliefs of the respondents play significant roles in perceiving a racial hate crime.
Conclusions
This study finds empirical evidence to establish a link between the status of incidents, respondents’ prejudice, and the perception of racial hate crimes. Future research will benefit from expanding the examination to other minority groups as well as to other bias motives.
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Data availability
The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Funding
This research was supported by Award No. 2020-R2-CX-0044, awarded by the National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this presentation are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department of Justice.
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Zhang, C. Perceiving racial hate crimes: a power-relation perspective. J Exp Criminol 19, 663–689 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11292-022-09501-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11292-022-09501-5