Culture makes the difference

According to the definition developed by the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the "hate crime" (hate crime) is a crime, committed against an individual and/or property associated with him, motivated by a prejudice that the perpetrator has towards the victim, due to of a "protected characteristic" of the latter. Among these protected characteristics are ethnic origin, religion, nationality, sexual orientation, gender identity and disability.

In the United States, 2021 was a particularly violent year: Bias-motivated crimes against Asians more than tripled, while incidents of an anti-Semitic nature reached an all-time high. In Europe, the influx of refugees in the 2010s has unleashed a wave of attacks against refugees and against Muslims. Violence against members of LGBTQ communities also remains an urgent global concern. According to Amnesty International, in ten years, hate crimes recorded in Italy have exploded from 134 to 1119 in 2019, of which over 70% occur for racial and religious reasons. Furthermore, since many of these crimes go unreported, these statistics represent an underestimation of a far more pervasive phenomenon.

Hate-based violence persists despite increased criminalization. One reason for this persistence may be the widespread support these crimes command among citizens, even though they are not the perpetrators themselves. The social environment, in fact, sends strong messages about which behaviors are acceptable and desirable. Where attitudes towards hate crimes are permissive, offenders may believe they are acting on behalf of their community, from which they may even receive some 'social rewards'. A recent scientific article published in the prestigious journal PNAS argues that the connection between community support and the incidence of hate crimes could explain why most hate crimes are committed by ordinary citizens, who do not have deviant or belong to organized groups.

The author of the article conducted online surveys to assess support for hate crimes against refugees and the political consequences of this support. The study was conducted in Germany on nationally representative samples between 2016 and 2017. There are three important findings that are worth reporting. First, the group of hate crime advocates is large: between 14% and 19% of respondents approve of hate crimes and this support is more than double in some subgroups. Community support goes well beyond the typical 'young male offender' profile, spanning populations of different ages, incomes and genders. While other research documents that perpetrators of hate crimes are almost exclusively young and often low socioeconomic status men, this study shows that the base of support for these crimes is much broader: nearly half of hate crime advocates are women (47%) and well over half (58%) are adults and elderly (40 years and over) and economically secure.

The profile of supporters of hate crimes is much broader, then, than the profile of perpetrators of these crimes. The discrepancy is particularly evident with respect to gender. Although almost no women are involved in hate crimes, according to these findings, many respondents still support them: treating hate crimes as an exclusively male problem risks missing the point. Another notable divergence concerns age: support for hate crimes is not "a mistake of youth". Middle-aged respondents (40-49 years) are just as likely to approve of hate crimes as younger respondents (18-29 years), with those aged 30-39 most likely to approve of them. Surprisingly, support for hate crimes does not appear to vary much with income, while notable differences emerge by education level: respondents with fewer years of education are significantly more likely to support hate crimes.

More effective interventions to reduce episodes of violence should therefore aim not only at the individual perpetrator, but also act, in a preventive way, on (his) community of reference.


Perluigi Conzo
NP March 2023