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An Analysis of Hate Crime Victimization Amongst Immigrants

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Abstract

The primary purpose of the current study was to understand immigrant hate crime victimization in the U.S. Specifically, the authors analyzed the most recent data from the National Crime Victimization Survey to explore the factors that influence hate crime experiences and reporting by immigrant victims. Results from the binary logistic regression analyses revealed significant relationships between immigration status, citizenship status, number of prior incidents experienced as well as certain demographic characteristics and being the victim of a hate crime. Overall, being an immigrant or non-citizen, was associated with an increase in odds of being the victim of a hate crime. In terms of victims’ reporting of hate crime, immigration status had no impact, but the number of incidents experienced, being married and being less educated significantly increased reporting among victims. Numerous recommendations are provided, however, the most important step forward is the creation of a legal status category within the UCR’s Hate Crime data collection coupled with several legal protections for victims.

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Notes

  1. This is when the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 (also known as the Hart-Celler Act) went into effect, thereby getting rid of the national origins system that had been used for almost a half century.

  2. We conducted both Binary Logistic regression and Firth Binary Logistic regression (to address possible issues related with small sample size bias and potential separation issues) using Penalized Likelihood Estimation method - PMLE. however, after comparing the two results (PMLE and MLE), we found no real difference in the results. But, in terms of model fit, the MLE model was better. As such, we decided to conduct Binary logistic repression using the standard MLE method.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Criminology, The College of New Jersey, Ewing, NJ, 08268, USA

    Wesley S. McCann

  2. Department of Criminal Justice & Legal Studies, The University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS, USA

    Francis D. Boateng

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  1. Wesley S. McCann
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  2. Francis D. Boateng
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Correspondence to Wesley S. McCann.

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McCann, W.S., Boateng, F.D. An Analysis of Hate Crime Victimization Amongst Immigrants. Am J Crim Just 47, 795–817 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-021-09616-x

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