Shweta Raj, Baba Saheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University
INTRODUCTION
There are many causes that can help to explain the different types of hate crime outlined above. Following, we provide an accessible overview of what we consider to be the central factors that explain why people commit hate crime/incidents. There is a strong theoretical basis in social psychology for linking prejudiced attitudes, perceptions of threat, and hate crime. We outline further a number of persuasive arguments that connect structural factors to the perpetration of hate crimes1. While there is some empirical evidence to support these theoretical explanations of hate crime, we note that the evidence base on hate crime causation remains relatively weak. This is in part due to a lack of research being undertaken in this area, but it is also due to the fact that there are multiple and intersecting variables that affect people’s behaviours. In understanding perpetration it is important to recognise the many different forms, contexts, and drivers of hate crime, while recognising that there are likely to be common factors to perpetration. Hate crimes are an extreme form of prejudice, made more likely in the context of social and political change. Public and political discourse may devalue members of unfamiliar groups, and offenders may feel that their livelihood or way of life is threatened by demographic changes. Offenders may not be motivated by hate, but rather by fear, ignorance or anger2. These can lead to dehumanization of unfamiliar groups and to targeted aggression.
