Symbolizing Hate: The Extent and Influence of Organized Hate Group Indicators

How active and violent are organized hate groups? Recent media coverage and research address hate activity as a “rising tide” of epidemic violence; such depictions perpetuate the public image of highly active hate groups with violent agendas. The current study confronts the complexity of hate activity, specifically comparing the characteristics of bias-related incidents with organized hate group affiliation to those without such affiliation. Moreover, this study investigates potential variation in responsive action among types of hate victimizations. Results indicate that hate group involvement is negatively related to incident severity. Additionally, analyses find that the presence of hate group indicators plays a positive and situationally conditioned influence on initiation of police action. The implications of these findings, including their relation to public perceptions of hate activity, are discussed.