© 2024
Local NPR for the Cape, Coast & Islands 90.1 91.1 94.3
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Hate Crimes Data Difficult to Calculate

Luther Bottrill / unsplash

The midterm elections have dominated the news for the past few months, but a string of racist, sexist, anti-semitic, and otherwise hate-motivated violence has been the other big story. With several attacks in such a short period of time, it can feel like a major uptick in hate crimes.

But data on hate crimes is spotty, making it hard to see trends and know how prevalent this kind of violence is. Researchers at the University of New Hampshire are hoping to change that. They’re launching a three-year nationwide survey of law enforcement officials funded by the federal Department of Justice.

Lisa Jones is a research associate professor of psychology at UNH’s Crimes against Children Research Center and lead investigator for the new study. She spoke to Living Lab Radio about the topic. 

Stay Connected
Elsa Partan is a producer and newscaster with CAI. She first came to the station in 2002 as an intern and fell in love with radio. She is a graduate of Bryn Mawr College and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. From 2006 to 2009, she covered the state of Wyoming for the NPR member station Wyoming Public Media in Laramie. She was a newspaper reporter at The Mashpee Enterprise from 2010 to 2013. She lives in Falmouth with her husband and two daughters.