The life cycle of hate crimes: Patterns, responses and consequences

Hate crime is increasingly acknowledged as a major democratic challenge in the public and political debate. A range of offenses perpetrated with a hate motive against minority group members may now be prosecuted as hate crimes in Norway and internationally. The project The life cycle of hate crimes: Patterns, responses and consequences (HATECYCLE) will investigate the life cycle of hate crimes in Norway to improve our understanding of its patterns, the societal responses to hate crime and their consequences, using these insights to guide more targeted prevention and intervention. The life cycle of a hate crime involves the process starting with an incident experienced as a possible hate crime offense, the potential reporting of that incident, and the subsequent police registration and investigation of the incident, possible prosecution (or dismissal), and court sentencing. Our analytical approach investigates this life cycle but employ a broad scope to also include responses outside criminal justice, like victim support and a wide range of preventive interventions. HATECYCLE will supplement the conventional punitive criminal justice response to hate crime by introducing a more holistic approach to the prevention of hate crimes. The project will do this by contributing to increased knowledge about occurrence, risk factors and consequences of hate crime, and what characterizes adequate reactions and effects of responses within and outside the criminal justice system. In order to focus our project on the most relevant issues, provide insights and knowledge from stakeholders, and disseminate the research findings to those that need it most, the research team is working closely with two partners: The National Police Competence Group on Hate Crime, and the Hate Crime Network (coordinated by the Equality and Anti-Discrimination Ombud), consisting of civil society organisations representing groups affected by hate crimes.

The HATECYCLE project will investigate the life cycle of hate crimes in Norway to improve our understanding of its patterns, the societal responses to hate crime and their consequences, using these insights to guide more targeted prevention and intervention. It will also supplement the conventional punitive criminal justice response to hate crime by introducing a more holistic approach to the prevention of hate crimes. The notion of “the life cycle of a hate crime” starts with an incident experienced as a possible hate crime offense, the potential reporting of that incident, and the subsequent process involving police registration and investigation of the incident, possible prosecution and court sentencing. We will expand this analytical approach to also include responses outside criminal justice, like victim support and a wide range of preventive interventions. We also seek insights into the consequences of both responses and lack of responses for victims and perpetrators, and into the degree to which victims’ needs are met by existing responses. This research project involves close collaboration with police practitioners and groups affected by and working against hate crime to ensure knowledge production that both can enhance our understanding of hate crime and assist the development of more effective responses. Our main project partners are the National Police Competence Group on Hate Crime and the Hate Crime Network of stakeholder organisations.