No Place for Hate Crime - National Union of Students

No Place for Hate
This chapter provides findings on how victims identify
hate incidents and the environments in which they
take place. It also provides demographic findings on
perpetrators and victims, and on the relationships
between them.
For each incident type, we asked respondents who
had been victimised to describe when and where the
most serious incident had happened, why they believed
it might be motivated by prejudice, and a number
of questions regarding what they knew about the
perpetrator(s).
Apart from in cases of vandalism, property damage
or theft (which predominantly occurred at or near
victims’ homes), a large proportion of incidents
occurred in and around further and higher education
institutions. Although the respondents were all students,
considering that they were asked to report experiences
outside as well as inside institutions, it poses the
question of whether campuses are ‘hotbeds’ of hate
incidents and crime.
While most perpetrators were reported to be strangers,
in many incidents victims were nevertheless able to
infer from the context or environment that perpetrators
were students. Also corroborating other research
was the finding that the large majority of perpetrators
were males.
Key findings
• The majority of incidents – particularly those
involving direct contact between the victim
and perpetrator(s) – involved overt displays of
homophobia, through statements, gestures or
symbols.
• While students reported a range of locations in
which they were targeted, a large proportion of
incidents occurred at the victim’s place of study
– the exception being in cases of vandalism,
property damage or theft, which predominantly
occurred at or near the victim’s home. Moreover,
many of these incidents occurred in the afternoon
and evening, presumably during college and
university campus open hours.
• In 45 per cent of incidents prejudiced against
the victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity,
the perpetrator(s) were believed to be students –
often fellow students at the victim’s institution.
• The bulk of reported incidents were perpetrated
by white male assailants, often young people
in groups, who were not known by the victim.
In 44 per cent of incidents involving a single
perpetrator, the assailant was thought to be a
student. At least one student was believed to be
involved in 55 per cent of cases involving multiple
perpetrators.
30