Dangerous Climates: Factors Associated With Variation in Racist Hate Crimes on College Campuses. (August 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Van Dyke, Nella; Tester, Griff
• Other Names: King Ryan D. guest-editor.; Messner Steven F. guest-editor.
• Is Part Of: Journal of contemporary criminal justice. Volume 30:Number 3(2014:Aug.)
• Page Start: 290
• Page End: 309
• Publication Date: 2014-08
• Subjects: hate crime -- racial threat -- fraternities -- ethnic conflict -- racism; Criminal justice, Administration of -- Periodicals; Criminal justice, Administration of -- United States -- Periodicals; 364.973
• DOI: 10.1177/1043986214536666
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1043-9862

Abstract

Although hundreds of American college students are the victims of bias-motivated verbal and physical assaults every year, little research explores whether there is a systematic pattern to the hate crimes that occur on college campuses. In this article, we study why some campuses experience more racist hate crimes than do others. We explore how campus demographics, tuition increases, and the presence of fraternities influence reported hate crime incidence. Through a statistical analysis of the hate crimes reported to the FBI by 349 colleges, we find that ethnic-/racial-bias hate crimes are more likely to be reported on predominantly White college campuses and those that have a large Greek population. We contribute to theory on hate crime by illustrating some of the social characteristics that make hate crime more likely in certain geographic areas than others.