Hate crime in urban environments: dynamics, causes and consequences

Recently, increasing political and media rhetoric around difference has led to hate crime committed against minority group members. Hate crime refers to unlawful, violent, destructive, or threatening behaviour in which the perpetrator is motivated by prejudice towards the victim's race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, impairment, or homelessness. Empirical evidence suggests that the majority of hate-motivated offences occur around the victim's home in their own neighbourhood. This chapter reviews the literature on the neighbourhood antecedents of hate crimes, discussing the role of social disorganisation or threat theories in predicting offences as well as the protective processes within the neighbourhood that shelter residents. It also examines the harms of hate, with a focus not only on the individual consequences of a victimisation experience, but also the impact of witnessing or hearing about hate crime on other minority group members.