Resources

Full Text Article

Author: Zhang, Y., Zhang, L., & Benton, F. (2022). Hate Crimes against Asian Americans. American Journal of Criminal Justice: AJCJ, 47(3), 441–461. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-020-09602-9

Year: Published 2022

Method: Secondary data analysis of National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS) between 1992-2014

  • NIBRS is an incident-based comprehensive data collection system, which collects data on each single incident and the arrest of 48 Group A offenses. Compared to UCR data, NIBRS data contains more information on hate crime incidents. Law enforcement agencies submit hate crime information to the FBI through three different approaches: reporting via NIBRS, the electronic hate crime record layout, or Microsoft Excel Workbook Tool (U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2017). Agencies that report through the NIBRS system provide substantially more information on hate crimes than that is captured in the other two methods (e.g., age, sex, race, and ethnicity of offenders, victims, and arrestees). 

Population: All race categories; national

Summary of findings: From 1992 to 2014, African Americans were the most targeted group for race-based hate crimes. In the study sample, there were 5,463 anti-Black, 1,344 anti-Hispanic, and 329 anti-Asian hate crime incidents across 813 counties in the U.S. Victims’ characteristics, including age, sex, and resident status involving hate crimes committed against Asian Americans are similar to those hate crimes committed against African Americans and Hispanics. Victims are likely to be male, young (ages 18-34), and residents of the locality where the crimes occurred. In addition, hate crimes committed against Asian Americans, with respect to the offenders’ age and sex, are comparable to hate crimes against African Americans and Hispanics. The offenders are likely to be male and young. With regard to the incident characteristics, Asian Americans have higher risk to be persecuted by strangers (39% vs. 31% for African Americans and 30% for Hispanics), are less likely to be offended in their residence (24% vs. 34% for African Americans and 30% for Hispanics), and are more likely to be targeted at school/college (17% vs. 9% for African Americans and 11% for Hispanics).