ABSTRACT
The focus of this chapter is on the prevention of hate crime in rural areas. It examines the official hate crime statistics in the United States noting that, although it is well known that hate crimes are significantly under-represented in the official data, such statistics can nevertheless offer important insights relative to prevention. The chapter draws upon Levin and McDevitt’s typology of hate crime offenders, and this is compared with data over three time periods from 1995 to 2017. This chapter considers what this means for the prevention of hate crime, especially in non-metropolitan communities, and incorporates results from a state-wide survey in West Virginia, United States, which found that community dynamics are significantly related to the risk and fear of hate crime and the fear of being attacked by strangers. The implications of this research are explored with regard to the prevention of hate crime in rural communities. This chapter is followed by a perspective on addressing hate crime in a small community in West Virginia, provided by a consultant and certified crime prevention specialist.
