Why is hate crime data collection important?

Check out this article by Jennifer Schweppe, Amanda Haynes and Emma Marie MacIntosh published in the European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research.

The artice explains very clearly why collecting third-party reporting data is important for civil society organisations and communities, The reasons include:

• (a) providing a means of reporting hate crime;
• (b) providing minority communities a means of reporting hate crime;
• (c) serving as a comparator to potentially unrepresentative official statistics where these are collected;
• (d) providing an evidence base for legislative change;
• (e) providing a platform to affirm victims’ naming of their experiences as hate crimes.

The importance of collecting such data is paramount also in jurisdictions where hate crime is not acknowledged in the legislation, because it promotes legislation change by giving visibility to the problem.

The article also highlights that victim support is a key natural extension of data collection among community organisations, and community organisations collecting data should provide support to victims otherwise they risk to frustrate expectations and leave the burden of hate to victims only.