The American Psychological Association, a scientific organization of more than 155,000 researchers, educators, and clinicians, is pleased to submit testimony to the House Judiciary Committee on hate crimes. Our members have produced a vast amount of research examining antecedents, causes, and consequences of violent behavior.

To summarize this research, we can conclude that violence is not random, uncontrollable, or inevitable. Many factors, both individual and social, contribute to an individual's propensity to use violence and are within our power to change. The APA has a long history of providing testimony and witnesses to Congress outlining this point, with an emphasis on early intervention programs for the prevention of youth violence. An issue of specific concern and the focus of this testimony today, is the increased need to address violence motivated out of hate and prejudice.

Important societal factors that contribute to a unique type of violence are prejudice, intolerance, and discrimination. Negative attitudes towards certain groups are demonstrated in daily acts of interpersonal behavior and in their extreme manifestation can be expressed through hate crimes.

Although hate violence research is only in its early stages of study, we have begun to answer some important questions.

Why We Need Legislation on Hate Crimes

According to community surveys, violence against individuals on the basis of their real or perceived race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender, disability, or other social groupings is a fact of life in the United States. For example, one study documenting the prevalence of hate crimes among more than 2000 lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals found that one in four men and one in five women had experienced a hate crime since the age of 16. The types of victimization included assaults, rapes, robberies, thefts, and vandalism.

The Psychological Impact

• A crime is not simply a crime. Social science research has found that the experience of a serious hate crime has more severe psychological ramifications for the victim than a random crime of similar severity (Herek, Gillis, Cogan & Glunt, 1997; Herek, Gillis, Cogan, in press). According to this research victims of hate crimes had higher levels of depression, stress, and anger than victims of a random crime. The negative effects of hate crimes are longer lasting than those of other crimes. Hate crime victims continued to have higher levels of depression, stress, and anger for as long as five years after their victimization. In contrast, crime-related psychological problems dropped substantially among survivors of non-bias crimes within approximately two years after the crime.

The Potential Economic Impact

The increased enduring psychological stress of experiencing a hate crime may lead to:

• Increased financial costs for the victims
  • People are more likely to seek out mental health services and other forms of assistance after a traumatic event and during periods of great distress. Therefore, in addition to their increased psychological stress as a result of the hate crime experience, victims may incur increased financial burdens.

  • Psychological health is often associated with physical health, thus victims may experience more somatic problems resulting in increased use of physical health care services. This will either put a financial burden on the victim or the employer depending upon who is responsible for health care costs.
• Increased costs to employers. According to some social science research, certain types of hate crimes most commonly occur in public places, such as the workplace and schools (Franklin, 1997). Hate crimes occurring in these environments may threaten the victim's sense of safety in the workplace and schools and in turn may effect work and school performance resulting in lower performance and greater absenteeism. Additionally morale of all employees may be negatively impacted.
• Loss of financial revenue for businesses. People who are depressed tend to isolate themselves socially and not interact with others, thus victims of hate crimes who experience depression may be less likely to frequent commercial establishments such as restaurants and stores and less likely to spend money at these establishments.

The Potential Social Impact

• Hate crimes are not only an attack on the individual but also an attack on that individual's community. Hate crimes serve to threaten and intimidate entire communities. This fear may result in an increased sense of vulnerability among community members. This heightened sense of fear plays a role in hate crimes reporting. According to one study, more severe forms of hate crimes were less likely to be reported to the police, and the researchers concluded that this lack of reporting is in part due to the victim's fear that the perpetrators will seek revenge (Dunbar, 1997).

• Research shows that hate crimes are less likely to be reported to the police than random crimes and are greatly underreported (Dunbar, 1997). According to one study, only a third of hate crimes were reported to the police compared to more than half of non-bias crimes (Herek, Gillis, & Cogan, in press). One of the reasons for this lack of reporting may be a perception or concern that police agencies are biased against the group to which the victim belongs, and police authorities will not be responsive to the incident.

Therefore, hate crime legislation that expands the jurisdiction and resources for appropriate prosecution is essential. The American Psychological Association supports the Hate Crimes Prevention Act and urges the Committee to vote it out of Committee and take a leadership role on the Senate floor.
Bibliography
American Psychological Association. (1996). Is youth violence just another fact of life? [Brochure]. Washington, DC.

Dunbar, E. (1997, November). Hate crime patterns in Los Angeles county: Demographic and behavioral factors of victim impact and event reportage. Paper presented at the American Psychological Associations Congressional Briefing on Hate Crimes, Washington, DC.

Franklin, K. (1997, November). Psychosocial motivations of hate crimes perpetrators: Implications for prevention and policy. Paper presented at the American Psychological Associations Congressional Briefing on Hate Crimes, Washington, DC.

Herek, G. M. Gillis, J. R., & Cogan, J. C (Under review). Psychological correlates of hate crimes. Journal of Clinical and Consulting Psychology.

Herek, G. M. Gillis, J. R., Cogan, J. C., & Glunt, E. K. (1997). Hate crime victimization among lesbian, gay, and bisexual adults: Prevalence, psychological correlates, and methodological issues. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 12, 2, 195-215.

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