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Hate Crime – A Challenge to Democracy. A multidisciplinary study on hate crime in Skåne with a focus on causes, consequences and support initiatives Purpose and aims Acts of violence and other forms of illegal methods have long been used by individuals and groups on political and religious grounds. For example, globalisation and increased conflicts have led to more areas being exposed to acts of terror and attacks on the social and political system (Kelly & Maghan 1998). Over the last twenty years in Sweden, a growing outsiderhood has resulted in an increase in the number of extremists with different religious and ideological leanings. It is mostly individuals who are injured or killed by hate crimes perpetrators, which in itself is an attack on the democratic system, although democracy is also obstructed by e.g. journalists being intimidated into silence. Democracy implies a safeguarding of basic human rights and that people are not exposed to acts of contempt or attacked because they are perceived as different or as representatives of the democratic system. At a time when hate crime and extremism as threats to the democratic society are growing it is very important to increase knowledge about the causes and consequences of hate crime and extremism. In recent years a number of murders and attempted murders have been committed in Malmö by someone shooting at people of “foreign” appearance. In the autumn of 2010, the number of shootings intensified and concern about “Malmö’s Laserman” spread. In November a person was arrested on suspicion of at least three murders and eleven attempted murders of people with an immigrant background. Even though at the time of writing the legal proceedings have not yet started, the classification of hate crime will in all likelihood be included in the evidence submitted to the court. In 2009 and 2010, in both the Swedish and the international media, much was written and spoken about hate crime – especially against Jews in Malmö. The descriptions were about how Jewish burial grounds had been desecrated, how Jews had been harassed on their way to and from the synagogue and the burning down of the Jewish chapel. Another two hate crimes that were highlighted in Skåne in 2010 related to a Somali woman living in Tomelilla who was subjected to stone-throwing and verbal attacks by secondary school pupils and a young Muslim girl in Södra Sandby who was assaulted because she was wearing a veil. The preliminary inquiries were initially laid down, although when the media exposed the cases the police again opened up the inquiries with the justification that hate crime was highly prioritised because that kind of crime was an attack on individuals’ basic rights and on the democratic society. Despite hate crime having been highly prioritised for some years, the number of hate crimes in Skåne in the last two years has led to Skåne itself being regarded as a hate crime centre. According to the police authorities in Skåne, 269 hate crimes were reported in 2009. Even though the number of unrecorded cases is probably great and given the statistics differ somewhat between the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention (Brå) and the police authorities in Skåne, the figures nevertheless show an increase in the number of hate crimes and that every one in three reported crimes is anti-Semitic in nature (79 of 269). Hate crimes against Jews have attracted a lot of attention, although 2/3 of those who are victims of hate crime in Skåne belong to other groups, e.g. Muslims, Romanies and homosexuals. In this proposed project no delimitations will be made, but the focus will be on all groups included in the Swedish hate crime definition, which thereby means that different groups of victims can be compared with each other (see e.g. Tiby 2007 for the need for this kind of study). The project Hatbrott – en utmaning för demokratin [Hate Crime – A Challenge to Democracy] intends to examine the causes and consequences of different types of hate crime with a focus on Skåne. The aim is also to suggest measures for improving the situation in different respects for victims and to contribute to an improved knowledge of hate crime that will assist government agencies and organisations that work in different ways with the problems of hate crime and political and religious extremism. In the long-term the project aims to contribute to the reduction of hate crime and, as part of that, contribute to increasing knowledge about the causes and consequences of hate crime and disseminating this to relevant groups in society. In this way, the intention is that it will be easier to prevent threats to the foundations of democratic society at an early stage. Within the framework of the project important questions of a more structural nature will be asked, such as: What are the underlying causes of the increase in the number of hate crimes? Are external factors involved, such as those in the Israel-Palestine conflict, with local religious connotations? Or is it mainly to do with internal factors in Skåne, such as segregation and “us against them” attitudes in housing areas and schools? Does the increased support for the Sverigedemokraterna [The Sweden Democrats] in Skåne have anything to do with hate crime? How do we explain the increase in the number of reported hate crimes and, despite this, the few cases in which people are actually brought to court and sentenced in line with the recently introduced severe penalty code? Other questions are more oriented towards the actors: Who are the perpetrators of hate crime and what are their motives for committing such a crime? A third group of questions relates to methods: How can society prevent, or at least reduce, the number of hate crimes? What kinds of methods can be used to help those who are victims of hate crime and how do we deal with the perpetrators of such crimes in order to prevent new crimes being committed? Can specific success factors be identified among the different methods that are used to counteract hate crime and political and religious extremism? Survey of the field The international literature on hate crime is firmly rooted in American research, since the terminology originated from USA in the 1970s when social movements, interest groups and other activists succeeded in attracting the attention of the media and influencing politicians in Congress to legislate against hate crime (Jenness & Grattet 2001). In the book Hate Crime; Criminal Law and Identity Politics, Jacobs and Potter (1998) point out that although hate crime is a construction that has no obvious definition, prejudices against a certain identifiable group do constitute the primary motive for the crime. Hate crime can be seen as the result of a complex relation between individual and social factors, where general prejudices play a central role (Gerstenfeld 2010:290). The difficulty of explicitly defining hate crime is intimately bound up with changes in social norms over time and space. However, Petrosino (2003) maintains that hate crime is often directed towards certain easily identifiable minority groups with less power than the majority. Some scholars claim that hate crime only arises if the victim belongs to marginalised and stigmatised groups, which means that this type of hate crime is not regarded as being committed by individuals belonging to a minority group on another minority group or on majority groups (Perry 2001). In line with Perry’s research, Sweden has adopted a more comprehensive definition in order to include those groups who could be exposed to hate crime.1 In Sweden, hate crime is regarded as crime with xenophobic/racist, Islamophobic, anti-Semitic, 1 The concept hate crime was first introduced in a Swedish context in 1999 in connection with Eva Tiby’s thesis Hatbrott? Homosexuella kvinnors och mäns berättelser om utsatthet för brott [Hate crime? Homosexual women’s and men’s stories about exposure to crime]. other anti-religious, homophobic, biphobic, heterophobic and transphobic motives (Brå rapport 2009:10:10).2 Against the background of an increase in the number of hate crimes in Skåne over the last few years, previous research has shown that those who are victims of this kind of crime often suffer from long-term psychological damage. In addition, as such attacks are not only directed towards individuals and groups, but also towards the democratic social system as a whole, the generation of more specific knowledge about this kind of crime is regarded as being of great importance (Iganski 2008; Herek, Cogan & Gillis 2002);Chapman (2008); Christersen (2008) & Moskalenko & McCauley (2009). In connection with the project application, the project group’s own research is highly relevant and includes: the book entitled Rasismens yttringar . Exemplet Klippan [Manifestations of Racism. The example of Klippan] (2001 a), by Berit Wigerfelt and Anders S. Wigerfelt, is a study of hate crime based on the murder of Gerard Gbeyo, an asylum-seeker from the Ivory Coast, in 1995 in Klippan in northern Skåne, by a 16-year-old Nazi sympathiser. The study, which deals with the growth of racist and Nazi youth groupings in the area, was partly financed by the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention and was included in a series of studies of similar crimes in different places in Sweden. The historian Helene Lööw was the initiator of these studies. The book deals with how and why these groups emerged among the youth and how they could be linked to adults’ xenophobic points of view. The study also seeks to answer the question as to whether the growth of extreme movements can be explained historically and regionally in a Scanian context. Different actors, such as schools, the police and the social services, were relatively successful in dealing with these groups in Klippan, and their different initiatives are described and analysed in the book. The authors have also been involved in further research on hate crime, extremism, racism, segregation, outsiderhood and belonging, and how government agencies have responded to these phenomena (see e.g. Wigerfelt & Wigerfelt 2001 b, 2001 c, and Wigerfelt A 2004, 2010 and Wigerfelt B 2010, 2011 a, 2011 b). Pieter Bevelander has large experience of conducting surveys and to analyze survey data (Bevelander & Veenman 2004, 2006; Bevelander & Groeneveld 2006; Bevelander & Pendakur 2009, 2010). Moreover, he has in a number of publications analyzed the attitudes of young people towards Muslims in Sweden as well as hate crime experiences by young Muslims in Sweden (Otterbeck & Bevelander 2006; Bevelander & Otterbeck 2010; Bevelander & Otterbeck 2011). The main results of these studies show that, when controlling for several background variables simultaneously, the country of birth, socio-economic background and school/programme factors all have an effect on the attitude towards Muslims. Moreover, socio-psychological factors, the relationship to friends and the perceptions of gender role patterns are found to be important. In addition, local factors like high levels of unemployment, high proportions of immigrants in a local environment also have an effect. No differences in the attitudes of boys and girls were found. Further, the study establishes a correlation between negative attitudes and right-wing populist seats in local government. In general, negative stereotypes and harsh views on Muslims were fairly rare in their attitude study. Still, when Muslim youth answered the questionnaire, the self-evaluation of discrimination was 2 In Sweden hate crime is not classified in the penal code as a specific crime but as a serious offence, which means that severe penalties can be imposed on conviction if hate crime can actually be verified. higher than that of other comparable groups. Examples of verbal abuse and racist slurs were also given from qualitative research (Otterbeck 2010). Results indicate clearly a difference between young and old people in Sweden. Older individuals have in general more negative attitudes towards Muslims than younger people. This is also signaled in interviews with Muslims who give accounts for being verbally attacked mainly by elderly persons, not because of their own actions or words, but just for being there. Right-wing populist parties and movements in Sweden and Europe and a possible connection with an extreme form of anti-democratic discourse are dealt with in Populism and a Mistrust of Foreigners. Sweden in Europe (2007), by Fryklund, Kiiskinen and Saveljeff. The book entitled Att dansa i otakt med väljarna. Socialdemokraternas och Moderaternas strategiska bemötande av Sverigedemokraterna [Dancing out of step with the voters. The Social Democratic Party’s and the Conservative Party’s strategic treatment of the Sweden Democrats], by Jenny Kiiskinen and Sigrid Saveljeff (2010), discusses how in different ways the presence of right-wing populist parties forces established parties to adopt positions on the very issues around which these parties mobilise the electorate. This in turn results in the refugee- and immigration issue being moved higher up the political agenda, which can lead to different scenarios where one development can mean an increased scope for policies and rhetoric that are strongly coloured by intolerance and a mistrust of people with a background other than Swedish, which in turn can give rise to an even more extreme political and religious discourse. A categorisation of “us” and “them” is thus an important ingredient in a hate crime context. Project description In order to create a theoretically-based understanding of the complex nature of hate crime we will focus on collective identity-creating processes in which the self-definition of “us” and the boundaries against “them” are fundamental. Identity-creating processes are maintained by a continuous recreation of categorisations that are evident in e.g. language and rituals. In some cases the boundaries themselves often become part of the exclusion processes that affect groups with less power: “they” are not regarded as having the right to live among the “normal” (Wigerfelt 2010). Charles Tilly’s (2000) argument about including and excluding linked to categorisation is important in this context. Groups construct and preserve their boundaries with the aid of categories. We could say that categories consist of a group of actors that share a demarcation line through which they are separated from and connected to at least one other group that is excluded by the preservation of this boundary. If changes in the boundaries are to take place, categories have to be used in order indicate the conditions that apply to potential new members of the social organisation. Here Tilly’s starts out from a relational perspective, i.e. that categories should not be regarded as isolated but rather in relation to other categories. The categories that are constructed can be “Swedes”, “immigrants”, “homosexuals”, “Muslims” etc. Through the construction and the relational connection between categories clearer border lines are created that in some environments can eventually lead to hate crime. Carole Sheffield (1995) sees hate crime as part of a political culture in which rights, privileges and prestige are dependent on biological or cultural marks of identification. Barbara Perry (2003) argues that differences between people are used as forms of identification and that sometimes these identities are of a border-crossing nature and are thereby perceived by some as dangerous. Hate crime can thus be seen as both dependent on circumstances and also as part of the prevailing political culture (Kelly & Maghan 1998). Hate crime is often a kind of “communication” with the intention of stirring up anxiety and fear among the target groups (Perry 2001). In the project, hate crime will be studied on the basis of an actor-model and from a contextual perspective. We will, for example, use Gidden’s structuring theory, which in simplified terms means an actor-oriented perspective that is seen in relation to society’s overarching structures, and also Messerschmidt’s theory on “structured action”(Guneriussen 1996, Giddens 1984 and Messerschmidt 1997). The aim of the project will be operationalised by a pluralistic approach in which quantitative and qualitative methods are combined in order to explain the underlying causes and consequences of hate crime and the need for support initiatives that arises when such crimes are committed. The project consists of complex questions of different character that also require different approaches. The examination of the judicial system with regard to hate crime related offences will result in a mapping and compilation of existing secondary empirical material in the form of public statistics relating to hate crime and register studies of report notifications and convictions in Skåne. These will then be compared with national and international studies. We will also carry out a kind of “meta-study” of some of the methods that have been used in different countries in order to improve the situation of hate crime victims and for preventing perpetrators from committing new crimes related to extremism and threats to the democratic society (see e.g. Björgo, Donselaar & Grunenberg (2009). Within the framework of the project, we will acquire a deeper knowledge of the experiences of the victims and the motives of the perpetrators. In this context, qualitative interviews with both the victims and perpetrators/extremists of hate crime will be conducted.3 In addition to interviews with perpetrators and victims, interviews will also be conducted with people who are involved in some way with hate-crime related problems in Skåne. Interviews with the police, victim supporters, employees in anti-discrimination bureaus and representatives of the newly established Dialogue Forum are examples of important “official” informants to include in the project. This is important for several reasons, e.g. the fact that knowledge about hate crime needs to be disseminated and linked to those who are affected in some way by it, which is also one of the objectives of the project. Schools are important arenas to explore too, because young people are over-represented among hate crime perpetrators and among people with extreme political and religious values. Many young people are also victims of hate crime. A selection of schools will thus be made and a survey carried out that can be compared with earlier studies. Some 3,000-5,000 pupils will be included in the survey in an attempt to map their attitudes towards and experiences of hate crime and extreme political and religious viewpoints in different parts of Skåne. The survey will then be followed up by a series of individual interviews with the participating youth based on the questionnaire responses and by focus group interviews, which in this context can be a suitable tool with which to study opinions and values and establish which processes contribute to the construction of meaning in this context (Wibeck 2000:21). The project will begin with phase 1 and the mapping of the judicial system’s approach to hate crime offences and the definitions that are used. What happens to reported offences in the judicial chain has not yet been explored in any depth (Brå report 2010:12:81). When Brå followed up the report notifications from 2008 to March 2010 it was found that only 8 % of the 3 In order to maintain and ensure secrecy, the victims and the perpetrators will be contacted via the police authorities in Skåne, a collaborating partner in the project, to ask whether they are willing to take part in the research project outlined here. reported cases had led to legal action, prosecution or the laying down of the case due to insufficient evidence. Studies from The Living History Forum (2006) and Brå (2002) indicate that severe penalties are seldom imposed for hate crime, i.e. this is an exception rather than the rule. We will monitor the reported crimes in Skåne during the period 2009-2011, as knowledge about what happens in the judicial system is an important piece of the jigsaw puzzle in the mapping of the causes and consequences of hate crime. In other words, this phase will result in the mapping and compilation of existing secondary empirical material in the form of public statistics related to hate crime, register studies of reported offences and convictions in Skåne that can then be compared with national and international studies. We will also conduct a literature study of the methods used in different countries in order to prevent or reduce the number of hate crimes and extremism. Kiiskinen, Wigerfelt and Wigerfelt will all be involved in this phase of the project. Research undertaken by Barbara Perry (2010) has pointed to the need for in-depth studies into how different groups of victims are affected, and into the similarities and differences between the different “categories of victims”. According to Perry, very few scientific studies have been conducted in which perpetrators have been interviewed. She therefore argues for the importance of more in-depth studies in a demarcated area, i.e. a local/regional study, in an attempt to understand the political and cultural environments in which hate crimes are common. Thus, in phase 2 of this project we will deepen our knowledge of the experiences of both the victims and perpetrators of hate crime by means of qualitative interviews. In order to maintain and ensure secrecy, victims and perpetrators will be contacted via the police authorities in Skåne, a collaborating partner in the project, with a request to participate in the project. In phase 2 we will, e.g. describe the victims’ experiences of being subjected to hate crime. What kind of reaction leads to the insight of having been a victim of hate crime? What kind of support from society do they expect? We will also ask e.g. what the perpetrators themselves think about the underlying causes that lead to a hate crime being committed, and how they characterise the actions that form the basis for the reporting of a hate crime. In addition to interviews with perpetrators and victims we will also interview people who in some way are engaged with hate crime related problems in Skåne. Interviewing the police, supporters of victims, employees in anti-discrimination bureaus and representatives of the Dialogue Forum in Malmö who work to prevent hate crimes between Jews and Muslims are examples of important “official” informants to include in the project. This is important for several reasons, e.g. the fact that knowledge about hate crime needs to be disseminated and linked to those who are affected in some way by hate crime, which is also one of the objectives of the project. This is also something that was highlighted in the report Offer för hatbrott – vad har gjorts och vad kan förbättras? [Victims of hate crimes – what has been done and what could be improved?] by Chrystal Kunosson (2007), where the need for in-depth studies into hate crime in Sweden is underlined and that the knowledge that exists must be better communicated to the police, non-profit organisations and potential victims. It is also important to examine how different actors deal with those in vulnerable positions (the judicial system, the health care system, the social services, schools, non-profit organisations).4 By collaborating with bodies like the police, local associations, 4 In Kunosson’s research overview of hate crime research in Sweden little is said about xenophobic/racist crimes. Two such examples in the present project application of people taking part are the books Det lokala våldet, Om rädsla, rasism och social kontroll [Local Violence. On Fear, Racism and Social Control] (eds Ingrid Sahlin and Malin Åkerström, 2000) and Törnroslandet [Sleeping Beauty Country] (Integrationsverket 2001). Dialogue Forum and non-profit organisations our aim is to contribute to the transfer of knowledge and to recommend methods that in earlier projects and in this project have helped to combat hate crime. According to Christman & Wong (2010), before a victim reports an offence it is customary to consult e.g. an anti-discrimination bureau. We will therefore collaborate with the Anti-discrimination Bureau in Helsingborg and make use of the bureau’s contacts in order to try to interview those who have been subjected to hate crime but who are not always visible in the report notification statistics. In the same way we plan to work with RFSL and different religious organisations. Wigerfelt, Kiiskinen and Wigerfelt will take part in phase 2 of the project. In phase 3 we will focus on tracking attitudes among pupils that can result in extremism and hate crimes and also on examining the degree to which Scanian pupils are exposed to hate crime. It has already been established that young suspects are over-represented when it comes to hate crime. Of those who were suspected of hate crime in 2008 40 % were below the age of 20, and out of all the suspects 13 % were below the age of 15 (and therefore classed as minors). The most common crimes that these young perpetrators are suspected of are damage to property or the use of graffiti (Brå report 2009:10:78). Against this background, we consider the school to be an important arena to include in this sub-study, where the school is partly studied as an arena for hate crime and partly where a selection of schools that work actively with different methods of combating hate crime is made. The sub-study will consist of a questionnaire survey and interview study. The target group for the sub-study is young people in school Year 9 and upper secondary school pupils in Years 1-3. The questionnaires will be distributed to some 3,000-5,000 pupils in Skåne. The selection will be representative in order to capture attitudes and experiences of hate crime in different parts of Skåne. We think that including several parts of Skåne rather than simply looking at large city areas is important in this context. There is a perception that the problem of hate crime is much greater in Skåne, and that in Skåne the problem is much worse in Malmö. With the aid of this questionnaire survey we will be able to ascertain whether or not this perception is correct. In order to guarantee a satisfactory percentage of responses, and in order to render the distribution more effective, the questionnaires will be distributed by teachers in connection with lessons. In order to track possible changes over time the results of the questionnaire survey will be compared with the results of two earlier studies: Islamofobi – en studie av begreppet, ungdomars attityder och unga muslimers utsatthet [Islamophobia – a study of the concept, young people’s attitudes and young Muslims’ vulnerability] (Otterbeck & Bevelander 2006) and Intolerans, Antisemitiska, homofobiska, islamofobiska och invandrarfientliga tendenser bland unga [Intolerance, Anti-Semitism, Homophobia, Islamophobia and Anti-immigrant tendencies] (Ring & Morgentau 2004). Phase 3 will be led by Bevelander, with the participation of Kiiskinen and B. Wigerfelt. Year 2012: The project will begin in phase 1 with the mapping of how the judicial system deals with hate crime related offences and a deeper and wider reading of international literature concerned with hate crime and extremism. During the first six months two meetings with the reference group will be held, at which the detailed project plan will be discussed and revised and a communication plan drawn up in cooperation with collaboration partners with the aim of disseminating the results of the project’s different sub-studies. We will also collate and process available theoretical material and develop the methodological framework that will be required for the work in phase 2, which will be mainly focused on interviews with perpetrators and victims. Based on the material examined in the judicial chain, e.g. reported offences, with the aid of the police authorities in Skåne we will identify hate crime victims for interview. Another intermediate objective is to establish contact with the schools included in the questionnaire survey. The idea that the questionnaires will be distributed in the school in connection with lessons is dependent on well-established contacts with the teachers and principals of the schools concerned. Year 2013: An intermediate objective for the project’s second year is to carry out all the necessary data collections for phase 2. This will mainly concern conducting interviews with victims of hate crime, the perpetrators of hate crimes and key people/organisations that are in different ways involved in the prevention of hate crime. Another intermediate objective in the second year is to construct the questionnaire, which will be done on the basis of previous models (Bevelander & Otterbeck 2006) that will be further developed and streamlined in order to align with the project’s aims and plans, and make it available for distribution. Year 2014: The overarching goal for the project’s third and final year is to conclude the work in phases 2 and 3 and to collate the results of the project Hate Crime – A Challenge to Democracy. Significance No regional scientific studies have been conducted on hate crime and its connection with democracy in Sweden. The present situation makes Skåne an extremely interesting and justifiable “case” to study in the framework of the proposed project. The project group’s combined competence and our collaborations with other researchers and “practitioners” will generate interesting and useful results that will benefit other researchers, people who work with hate crime in different contexts and, not least, those groups that are victims of hate crime. Our ambition is that the project will contribute to the prevention of hate crime by means of the transfer of the generated knowledge to the relevant parties and in that way reduce threats to the democratic system and its values. In order to realise the project’s objectives relating to the recommendation of suitable methods to use to address hate crime, we will study examples of the practical projects against hate crime and extremism that have hitherto been carried out. Our intention here is to create the necessary data in order to be able to recommend suitable methods to use to combat hate crime and extremism. The results of the project Hate Crime – A Challenge to Democracy will be presented at the end of the project in a final report. In addition, the results will be disseminated by means of articles published in Swedish and international journals. The aim is that the project group will succeed in having at least three articles published in peerreview journals. We will also present the results at suitable national and international conferences. At a time when hate crime and extremism as threats to the democratic society are immediate and important subjects about which to disseminate knowledge to circles that reach beyond traditional academia, the results will also be disseminated in wider contexts. In cooperation with the project’s different collaboration partners, several different conferences will be organised that e.g. address the police, people working in schools and the social services, municipalities and nonprofit organisations. The project group also plans to present the results of the project in a textbook anthology that can be used in training courses for the police, social workers and other relevant fields. The ambition is that a textbook of this kind will have an actor-oriented approach that offers target groups definite tools with which to work and that are based on the accumulated experiences of the project.