Individual, Motivational, and Risk Management 
Characteristics of Bias Motivated Offenders

Edward Dunbar, Ed. D.

Executive Summary

Information on the bias indicators, criminal histories, and risk management problems found in the 581 identified suspects of the 814 total hate crimes reported in Los Angeles City during 1999. Crime reports filed with the Los Angeles Police Department Criminal Conspiracy Unit were analyzed to provide the following information on the bias motive of each offense.

Distribution of Bias Motives of Identified Hate Crimes:

Findings reveal that a significant number of bias crimes are perpetrated by young adult men (mean age of 30 years). Typically bias crime offenders targeted victims with whom they had no prior relationship, rarely engaged in the pursuit of material reward (e.g. robbery) in commission of the bias crime, and in many instances traveled out of their immediate communities to perpetrate the bias crime.

Offender Age Distribution

The average age of identified suspects was 30 years. The majority were between the ages of 17 and 27 (SD = 13.5). The clustering by category is shown below.

Bias Crime Offender Grouping by Age Category

Crime reports were analyzed to identify five elements of a bias motivation, these included: (1) documentation of an offender’s articulated hate ideology, (2) affiliation with a hate group or gang, (3) presence of hate speech during commission of the offense, (4) presence of hate-oriented symbols (dress, tattoos, iconography, and art), and (5) prior commission of bias-motivated aggression. Findings indicated that hate speech constituted the most frequently identified indicator of bias motivation. Hate group membership, prior bias aggression, and the presence of hate symbols were less frequently found in the crime reports. When the bias motivation dimensions were aggregated, it was found that highly bias motivated suspects were more likely to engage in premeditated and goal-directed hate crimes. Bias motivation scores evidenced a curvilinear relationship to age; the highest bias motivation scores were found for offenders under the age of 18 and over the age of 35.

Bias Motivation and Offender Age Category

Review of the criminal records of identified suspects indicated that these offenders pose numerous case management problems and are at-risk for commission of future violence. One-third of the identified suspects had prior criminal histories. Of the identified suspects with prior offenses, the majority had a history of violent crime. Seventy-three percent of suspects of racially motivated bias crimes had prior criminal records of violence, 59% of the identified suspects of religious and sexual orientation bias crimes likewise had criminal histories of violence.

These findings underscore the need to more closely monitor bias motivated offenders than many other offender groups. The findings illustrate the need to more carefully evaluate the effectiveness of diversionary programs serving bias offenders, provide training to first-responder officers, and increase the knowledge of probation professionals in the case management of bias offenders.

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Pacific Psychological Associates and Department of Psychology, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, 90024, USA. 310/536-0211; e-mail edunbar@ucla.edu.