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The rise of hate crimes and development of right-wing extremism among adolescents in Europe will require a response involving a multitude of measures in different areas and various levels. Combating this development will necessitate cooperation of experts in different fields. Individuals and groups will need to contribute knowledge in a way that transcends specialties. (BF)

This paper addresses the question whether and to what extent the experience of online hate speech affects victims' sense of security. Studies on hate crime in general show that such crimes are associated with a significantly higher feeling of insecurity, but there is little evidence concerning feeling of insecurity due to online hate speech. Based on a secondary data analysis of a representative population survey in Lower Saxony, Germany, on the topic of cybercrime in 2020 (N = 4,102), we tested three hypotheses regarding the effect of offline and online hate speech on feelings of insecurity. As a result, compared to non-victims, victims of online hate speech exhibit a more pronounced feeling of insecurity outside the Internet, while victims of other forms of cybercrime do not differ in this regard from non-victims. We found no effect for offline hate speech when relevant control variables were included in the statistical model. Possible reasons for this finding are assumed to lie in the characteristics of the phenomenon of online hate speech, for example, because the hateful content spreads uncontrollably on the Internet and reaches its victims even in protected private spheres. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nach Gesetzesreformen 2015 und 2021 bestimmt § 46 Abs. 2 S. 2 des Strafgesetzbuchs (StGB) nun ausdrücklich, dass rassistische, fremdenfeindliche, antisemitische und sonstige menschenverachtende Ziele und Beweggründe bei der Strafzumessung strafschärfend zu berücksichtigen sind. Derzeit liegt außerdem ein neuer Gesetzesentwurf vor, der vorsieht, dass zusätzlich ›geschlechtsspezifische‹ sowie ›gegen die sexuelle Orientierung gerichtete‹ Ziele und Beweggründe aufgenommen werden. Trotz entsprechender Signale der Gesetzgebung, bleibt bis heute offen, ob das Vorgehen des Rechtsstaates bei dem Phänomen der Vorurteilskriminalität von der Erkennung bis zur rechtlichen Würdigung und Verurteilung als angemessen bezeichnet werden kann. Der Beitrag stellt den staatlichen Umgang mit Vorurteilskriminalität dar und fokussiert hierbei die bisherigen Erkenntnisse zur Anwendung des § 46 Abs. 2 S. 2 StGB. Dabei wird das Konzept der Vorurteilskriminalität sowie ihre Erfassung dargestellt, um dann die Rechtslage in Deutschland und den empirischen Forschungsstand zur Berücksichtigung von menschenverachtenden Zielen und Beweggründen in der Praxis zu erörtern. Zuletzt werden mögliche Forschungsperspektiven zur Überprüfung der Rechtsanwendungspraxis von menschenverachtenden Zielen und Beweggründen aufgezeigt. Following legal reforms in 2015 and 2021, Section 46 (2) sentence 2 of the German Criminal Code now states that racist, xenophobic, anti-Semitic and other inhuman aims and motives are to be taken into account when determining sentences, increasing the severity of the sentence. A new draft is also currently available, which stipulates that ›gender-specific‹ and ›anti-sexual orientation‹ aims and motives should also be included here. Despite corresponding signals from the legislation, it remains open to this day whether the legal and judicial handling with the phenomenon of bias crime from detection to sentencing and legal assessment can be described as appropriate. The article presents the state's handling of bias crime and focuses on the previous findings on the application of Section 46 (2) sentence 2 of the Criminal Code. The concept of bias crime and how it is recorded is presented in order to then discuss the legal situation in Germany and the state of empirical research on the consideration of inhuman aims and motives in practice. Finally, possible research perspectives are shown. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Statistics show that the increase in the number of refugees to Germany since 2015 was accompanied by an increase in xenophobic hate crimes. We deduced rivaling predictions from intergroup contact and intergroup threat theories that could explain the occurrence of xenophobic hate crimes. By combining structural data of the 402 German districts with the 2015 police crime statistics, we found evidence to support our predictions that aligns with intergroup contact theory: the higher the proportion of foreigners in a district, the lower the prevalence of xenophobic hate crimes. Our analyses further show that the prevalence of xenophobic hate crime attacks was positively related to the total prevalence of registered criminal offenses in a district and was higher in eastern German districts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the conditions under which increased immigration rates serve as a catalyst for right-wing politically motivated crime across 16 German regions. The main objective is to focus on regional immigration rates as a potential trigger for threat perceptions by not only testing their principal effects but also by considering their interactions with structural environments. The analyses are grounded in a quasi-experimental setting because Germany recently witnessed an increase in immigration, publicly referred to as the 'refugee crisis'. The results reveal differences in the comparable models, insofar as high regional immigration rates are particularly associated with hate crimes during times of high immigration influx, illustrating how a signal event such as the 'refugee crisis' might trigger amplified threat perceptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the British, German, and French states have increasingly turned their attention to the problem of racist violence. Yet in spite of their common participation in the European Union, each country has pursued a distinctive path in response to such hate crimes. Britain has focused primarily on policing and on the judicial process for prosecuting racially aggravated offenses, Germany has devoted substantial resources to civil society groups dedicated to countering right-wing extremism, and France has taken high-profile symbolic actions and has begun adapting its educational policies to address racist violence. This article argues that developing effective policies depends on learning best practices from other states but that it also requires being responsive to the concerns of domestic actors who face specific problems and who suggest possible solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Germany has experienced a high and rising rale of anti-foreigner violence during the early 1990s. To analyze the determinants of crime against foreigners we assembled a new data set on the number and nature of such crimes at the county level based on newspaper reports. We find significant differences in the patterns of violence in the eastern and western parts of the country. The incidence of anti-foreigner crime is higher in the east and rises with distance from the former West German border. Economic variables like unemployment and wages matter little for the level of crime once location in the east is taken into account. The relative number of foreigners in a county has no relationship with the incidence of ethnic crimes in the west, whereas in the east it has a positive association with the number of crimes per resident and a negative association with the number of crimes per foreign resident. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]