Hate crimes have seen a widely reported increase in recent years, as polarized political environments have reinforced the prejudices within society.  Despite this, the proportion of incidents that are reported remains incredibly low, so it’s crucial that society becomes better at uncovering the crimes that do exist.

Researchers from the University of Utah have developed an app that they believe will help matters.  The app, which the team believe is the first of its kind, aims to make it easier for people to report incidents of hate, even if the victims don’t officially report them to police.  This can include incidents ranging from derogatory comments left in public places to slurs shouted from passing vehicles.

“The major problem we’re dealing with is that hate crimes are so underreported, not only to police, but from police to the federal government,” the team explain. “There are cases when it can be difficult to report hate to the police, especially for undocumented people. We’re hoping that this could be a space where people feel comfortable.”

The Hate Incident Reporting System aims to uncover the full range of hate incidents, many of which fall outside of the edict of criminal reporting methods.  The team believe that by getting a better understanding of hate, it can be more effectively addressed, whether at local, regional or national level.

Accurate reporting

All incidents are reported confidentially, with anonymized data then used to help researchers better map incidents of hate around the country.  Each recording tracks the location, the nature of the incident and any multimedia that can help to illustrate the nature of the incident. Each entry is also classified according to the type of incident, such as racial, religious or ethnic crimes.  They are also tagged according to the nature of the crime, including property damage, propaganda or verbal assaults.

“These things are more fleeting, and can be easily captured by the quick use of the app,” the team explain. “It will hopefully make people feel like they have a voice to report hate somewhere, feel like their being heard. They’ll know that we’re adding it to our research effort and are looking for solutions.”

Whilst the app is still at a pilot stage, the team are hopeful that it can prove useful in uncovering more hate crimes than is currently the case.  They’re also confident that as more people use it they’ll be able to modify and improve the app so that it becomes more effective.

The app will prove useful, not least in providing a unified method of reporting hate crimes.  At the moment, it’s common for different law enforcement agencies to have different definitions, and different methods of reporting, which significantly hampers any attempt to tackle clusters of activity.

“We want to catch trends before anything violent happens, these types of things come in waves. If we see spikes in activity, then we might be able to prepare for any bigger violent issues,” the team explain. “We’re not profiting off of this. We’re doing this for the public. We’re going to communicate what’s happening in your community.”