ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the evidence base further by unfolding some new data on the physical, emotional, and behavioural injuries of ‘hate crime’. It suggests that understanding the particular impacts of ‘hate crime’ can serve to inform appropriate and effective support for victims and inform the training of those working with victims. The pattern of reporting ‘hate crime’ to the police is very similar to the pattern for otherwise motivated crime as the only statistically significant difference concerned police being present at the scene or finding out about the crime by some other means. A more reliable measure of the relative intensity of physical violence in ‘hate crimes’ compared with otherwise motivated crimes can be provided by victims’ accounts of the injuries they suffer. A growing body of research evidence indicates that victims of ‘hate crime’, as a grouped category of offence, are more likely to suffer post-victimisation emotional distress compared with victims of otherwise motivated crime as a group.
