Quote:
Originally Posted by dippin
1. KELLINA M. CRAIG, “Retaliation, Fear, or Rage: An Investigation of African American and White Reactions to Racist Hate Crimes,” J Interpers Violence 14, no. 2 (February 1, 1999): 138-151.
1. JACK McDEVITT et al., “Consequences for Victims: A Comparison of Bias- and Non-Bias-Motivated Assaults,” American Behavioral Scientist 45, no. 4 (December 1, 2001): 697-713.
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The abstract of the first study (emphasis added):
An experimental study was conducted in an effort to establish whether hate crimes produce greater harm than similarly egregious crimes. Hate crimes are considered to be worse primarily because they are believed to be more likely to provoke retaliatory crimes and inflict distinct emotional distress on victims and members of the victim's social group or category. In this study, analogous samples of African American and White males observed two videotaped assaults motivated by racial bias in one case, and by an ambiguous motive in the other. Reactions were obtained following observation and revealed that emotional responses and expressed desire for retaliation were associated with participants' race but did not differ for the two types of assault. The findings are discussed in terms of the utility of current hate crime legislation as well as the implications of the observed racial differences.
No support for your assertion there.
And the abstract of the second study:
There has been a great deal of scholarly and practical discussion regarding treating bias crimes as separate and distinct incidents. Critics assert that bias crimes are not inherently different from comparable nonbias offenses and that the consequences for victims are similar. This study presents findings from an analysis of survey data obtained from bias and nonbias assault victims from the city of Boston. Although there are several limitations to the authors' data, findings from the respondents replicate prior empirical research and indicate that bias crime victims experience more severe psychological sequelae, for a longer period of time, than victims of similar nonbias offenses. Specifically, the level of intrusive thoughts, feelings of safety, nervousness, and depression were all significantly higher for bias crime victims.
Without reading the full study, and I haven't had that chance, there are a couple of things that stand out here. The authors acknowledge several limitations to their data. Meta-research always faces this problem in that different studies have different parameters and research methodologies, making direct comparisons difficult and limiting (but not invalidating) the accumulated results.
Secondly, I question whether the intensity of the psychological impact to the victim can be strictly attributed to crime itself. It is the knowledge of the perpetrator's prejudice that exacerbates the sequelae. If the victim has, prior to the crime, been subjected to prejudicial treatment, and has as a result suffered an actual psychological trauma, or even a heightened concern because of the prejudicial treatment, then that must be considered in assessing the differences in the post-crime impact. I have no knowledge of whether or not that was considered, but if I were involved any study design around this, I would certainly try to account for it. I doubt they did (with no basis other than my own prejudice and history of reading sociological studies), and the fact that this is meta-research, not an actual study in itself.