Introduction

If there is one area in the broad field of hate crime literature that has received extensive attention it is the impact of hate groups. While responsible for a relatively small proportion of hate-motivated violence, hate groups undoubtedly play a role in conditioning an environment in which bias-motivated incidents can occur. It is likely that organized hate groups are responsible for little more than 10 to 15 percent of all hate crime (Levin and McDevitt, 1993). This is not to downplay the seriousness of their actions, particularly in light of the brutal nature of hate group violence. Nonetheless, as Langer (1990:85) suggests,

At the least, there appears to be a kind of multiplier effect whereby one thing leads to another and the mere existence of the movement acts as an enabling force for the open expression of racism.