It’s unclear why election years bring an increase in reported hate crimes, particularly in the days following the election of our last two presidents. Or, given that hate crimes are notoriously underreported, the election could embolden victims to report the crimes against them. Jack Levin and Jack McDevitt at Northeastern University published a study detailing several types of hate crimes, including retaliatory hate crimes that are provoked by a previous perceived hate crime or act of terrorism. And the data account for violent hate crimes only, not hate speech incidents in person or online. Hate crime data are especially difficult to understand because crimes are largely affected by demographics, population and size of the police force.

Source: Washington Post March 23, 2018 10:00 UTC