A Common Target: Anti-Jewish Hate Crime in New York City Communities, 1995-2010

Abstract

Objectives: There is a growing body of macro-level studies examining hate crime. These studies however largely focus on ethnoracial hate crime, leading to a relative dearth of research investigating the etiology of anti-Jewish hate crime. The current study seeks to fill this gap by conducting a community-level analysis of anti-Jewish hate crime in New York City. Methods: Using data from the New York Police Department’s Hate Crimes Task Force, the current study employs a series of negative binomial regressions to investigate the impact of defended neighborhoods, social disorganization, and strain variables on anti-Jewish hate crime. Results: The results show that defended neighborhoods consistently predict higher levels of anti-Jewish hate crime in White, Black, and non-White neighborhoods even when accounting for social disorganization and strain variables. Results also demonstrate that anti-Jewish crime occurs in communities that are more socially organized and with better economic conditions. Conclusions: This study’s findings reveal Jewish victims to be a catchall target when a minority group increasingly moves into a majority area. These defended neighborhoods, and other findings have intriguing implications for both criminology’s social disorganization theory and the police and others charged with combatting bias crimes.

Noise Complaints and Land Rezoning as a Predictor of Hate Crimes in a New York City Borough

“…This finding contributed to the literature by adding support for the work done by Grattet (2009), Green et al (1998), andLyons (2007). Mills (2020aMills ( , 2020bMills ( , 2021 has also added to the growing literature by testing these theories on specific groups of hate crimes. For example, Mills (2021) tested social disorganization, strain, and group conflict theory on antigay hate crimes in NYC.…”

“…Mills (2020a, 2020b, 2021) has also added to the growing literature by testing these theories on specific groups of hate crimes. For example, Mills (2021) tested social disorganization, strain, and group conflict theory on anti-gay hate crimes in NYC.…”

“…There has been a growing body of research on hate crimes in NYC. Specifically, Mills (2020aMills ( , 2020bMills ( , 2021 has contributed greatly to this literature. Mills (2020a) conducted an analysis of hate crimes in NYC from 1995 to 2010.…”

“…In terms of defended neighborhoods, the majority group within the neighborhood “defends” their turf from the in-migration by committing hate crimes (Blumer, 1958; Grattet, 2009; Green et al, 1998; Lyons, 2007). Studies using the defended neighborhoods hypothesis find that in white neighborhoods, an in-migration of non-white groups will result in an increase in hate crimes against the non-white group, regardless of the socioeconomic status of the neighborhood (Grattet, 2009; Green et al, 1998; Lyons, 2007, Mills, 2020a, 2020b).…”

“…According to the New York City Police Department (NYPD), a hate crime is any crime where a person or group of people have been targeted for their belonging or perceived belonging to a particular race, color, religion, ethnicity, gender, age, disability, ancestry, national origin, or sexual orientation (NYPD, 2022). Scholars have noted that victim outcomes of hate crimes are severe, with victims reporting lower feelings of safety, lower trust in police, lower attachment to neighborhood, and lower overall well-being compared to victims of non-hate crimes (Benier, 2017;Feddes & Jonas, 2020;Mills, 2020aMills, , 2020b.…”