Hate crimes in post-9/11 Pennsylvania: Case characteristics and police response revisited

Extant research suggests that police involvement with hate crimes and bias incidents may be affected by case- and community-level characteristics. Triggering events, such as the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 (9/11), or the recent heated debates concerning illegal immigration, may also mediate this relationship. The present study builds on prior research by replicating the work of Wilson and Ruback (2003), which explored whether historical events, case characteristics, and community demographics are significantly associated with police involvement and response to bias-motivated offenses. The goals of this study were twofold: (1) to determine if the level of police response to bias-motivated incidents changed significantly post-9/11 and (2) to determine the extent to which case- and community-level factors are associated with police involvement. The findings illustrate that a significant increase in police response to hate crimes and bias incidents occurred post-9/11, and that both case- and community-level characteristics affect police involvement.