Give Some Examples of Variables That Affect Whether Agencies Report

Question

Examlex · Accepted Answer

The Answer is Some factors that would encourage an agency to report hate crimes include:
• ability to assess intergroup tensions in community
• desire to give support to communities
• belief that hate crime reporting will improve police/community relations
• belief that police help set level of acceptable behavior
• understanding that community wants police to report
• need to know extent of problem as first step to developing solutions
• informs community that department takes hate crimes seriously
• a belief that victims will get help
• will help diffuse racial tensions within the police department
• the right thing to do politically
• the right thing to do morally
• will help maintain department's good relationship with diverse groups
• consistent with values of department
• a belief that identifying problem will keep others safe
• citizens appreciate the hate crime reporting efforts of police
Some factors that would discourage an agency to report hate crimes include:
• not deemed important by department
• perception on part of police that no problem exists
• insufficient support staff to process, record, and submit hate crime data
• perceived as not being real police work in the community
• a belief that reporting hate crimes will make things worse for hate violence victim
• a belief that reporting hate crimes will make things worse for communities
• perception that some minority groups complain unnecessarily
• not a priority of local government
• a belief that identifying a crime as a hate crime will have no effect on the outcome
• a belief that it is wrong to make these types of crimes special
• a belief that hate crime reporting will result in negative publicity for the community
• a belief that hate crime reporting supports the political agendas of gay and minority
groups (which is seen as a negative outcome)
• it creates too much additional work
• hate crimes are not as serious as other crimes (i.e., lower priority)
• agency does not have the adequate technological resources

Give Some Examples of Variables That Affect Whether Agencies Report

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