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Disproportionate Harm: Hate Crime in Canada
- 2.1 Hate Crimes: The Problem of Definition
- 2.2 Hate Crime Definitions in Other Jurisdictions
- 2.3 Hate/Bias Crime Definitions used in Canada
2. METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES
Before presenting statistics on the incidence and reporting rates of hate crimes, it is important to discuss the question of how to define a hate-motivated crime.
2.1 Hate Crimes: The Problem of Definition
Perhaps the central problem in the classification and recording of hate crimes is the issue of definition. The empirical data that follow in this report must be considered in light of the definitions which guided their collection. If definitions of what constitutes a hate crime are highly variable, this will generate inconsistency in statistics purporting to measure the activity. The focus in this section is on the definitions of hate crimes used by different police agencies across Canada and in other jurisdictions. First, however, it is worth noting a general definition provided by researchers working in the area. According to Garofalo and Martin (1991: 17):
A bias-motivated crime is a crime in which the offender is motivated by a characteristic of the victim that identifies the victim as a member of some group towards which the offender feels some animosity.
As will be seen, the definitions used by different police forces are more specific and more restricted in scope.
2.2 Hate Crime Definitions in Other Jurisdictions
2.2.1 United Kingdom
The definition used by the police in the United Kingdom is restricted to racially motivated crime incidents, and assumes the following form:
(a) Any incident in which it appears to the reporting or investigating officer that the complaint involves an element of racial motivation; or,
(b) Any incident which involves an allegation of racial motivation made by any person (Maung and Mirrlees-Black, 1994).
The British definition suffers from the deficiency that it excludes hate crimes directed at targets other than racial minorities. Thus, other forms of hate crime such as anti-semitism, or anti-gay attacks are not captured either by the official police statistics or by the periodic victimization survey (British Crime Survey). On the other hand, the British definition has the advantage of defining a hate crime by specific reference to the perception of the victim(s), even if this perception is at odds with the view of the investigating officer.
2.2.2 United States
Definitions of hate crimes vary across the United States. The following examples are representative of these:
Hate Crime: Any unlawful action designed to frighten, harm, injure, intimidate or harass an individual, in whole or in part, because of a bias motivation against the actual or perceived race, religion, ethnic background or sexual orientation of the victim (IACP National Law Enforcement Policy Centre, 1991).
An act which appears to be motivated or perceived to be motivated by the victim based on race, religion or ethnic background (Maryland: see Cook, 1991).
2.3 Hate/Bias Crime Definitions used in Canada
Some police forces provided a clear definition in response to the Department of Justice Canada request; for others, the definition quoted below comes from bias crime guidelines provided to officers.[3]
Metropolitan Toronto Police Force
A hate crime is a criminal offence committed against a person or property that is based solely upon the victim's race, religion, nationality, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, gender or disability.
Halifax Police Department
A hate crime is a criminal offence committed against a person or property, the motive for which is based in whole or in part upon the victim's race, religion, nationality, ethnic origin, gender, disability or sexual orientation.
Edmonton Police Service
Bias crime: A criminal offence committed against a person or property, that is based solely upon the victim's race, religion, nationality, ethnic origin or sexual characteristic.
Ottawa Police Service
A criminal offence committed against a person or property which is motivated by the suspect/offender's hate/bias against a racial, religious, ethnic, sexual orientation or disability group.
Winnipeg Police Department
Hate crimes are traditional offenses motivated by an offender's bias as a result of religion, race, nationality or sexual orientation.[4]
Montreal Police Force
The Montreal police force uses the same definition that is used in Toronto (see above).
Ministry of the Solicitor General / Correctional Service of Canada
Crime was motivated because of hate/bias toward the victim's racial, religious, ethnic or sexual orientation.
Policing Standards Manual, Province of Ontario
A criminal offence committed against a person or property which is motivated by the suspect/offender's hate/bias against a racial, religious, ethnic, sexual orientation or disability group.
Ontario Provincial Police
A criminal act against a person(s) or property that is based solely, or in part, upon the victim's race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation or disability.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP)
The RCMP does not use the category "hate crime" in any formal way. However, some hate crimes are clearly addressed by the National Security Investigation Sections ofthe RCMP. Criminal, political or religious extremism, for example, can take a form that most people would recognize as a hate crime.[5] Most of the hate crimes described in this report fall within the ambit of the provincial or municipal police services, rather than within the jurisdiction of the RCMP in its federal role. Although the RCMP does gather information relating to ideologically-motivated serious crime, statistics are not routinely >compiled on criminal incidents that were motivated by hatred.
One critical question springs out from this short list: how inclusive should the definition of a hate crime be? There are clear differences between the definition used in Toronto and Edmonton for example, in which the act must have been based solely on some victim characteristic, and the broader definition in which the words "in whole or in part" are used. Clearly, a uniform definition is necessary if the statistics are to be comparable across different provinces.
