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HATECYCLE: The life cycle of hate crimes - Patterns, responses and consequences

The project HATECYCLE will investigate the life cycle of hate crimes in Norway to improve our understanding of its patterns, the societal responses to hate crime and their consequences, using these insights to guide more targeted prevention and intervention.

Hate crime is increasingly acknowledged as a major democratic challenge in the public and political debate. A range of offenses perpetrated with a hate motive against minority group members may now be prosecuted as hate crimes in Norway and internationally.

The life cycle of a hate crime involves the process starting with an incident experienced as a possible hate crime offense, the potential reporting of that incident, and the subsequent police registration and investigation of the incident, possible prosecution (or dismissal), and court sentencing. Our analytical approach investigates this life cycle but employ a broad scope to also include responses outside criminal justice, like victim support and a wide range of preventive interventions.

In order to focus our research project on the most relevant issues, provide insights and knowledge from stakeholders, and disseminate the research findings to those that need it most, the research team is working closely with two partners: The National Police Competence Group on Hate Crime, and the Hate Crime Network (coordinated by the Equality and Anti-Discrimination Ombud), consisting of civil society organisations representing groups affected by hate crimes.

HATECYLCE seeks to answer three overall research questions about the life cycle of hate crime:

1. What are the patterns and prevalence of hate crimes in Norway?

2. What characterizes the victims and perpetrators, and how do they experience different responses to hate crime?

3. What are the consequences of proactive and reactive responses to hate crime, and how can they be better tailored and more effective?

The project team

Tore Bjørgo (project leader): Director at Center for Research on Extremism (C-REX), professor at the University of Oslo, adjunct professor of police science at the Norwegian Police University College.
Stian Lid: Criminologist and senior researcher at NIBR, OsloMet.
Rune Ellefsen: PhD from Department of criminology and sociology of law, researcher at Center for Research on Extremism and Oslo University Hospital.
Birgitte P. Haanshuus: Media scholar, researcher at Center for Research on Extremism.
Kristina Os: Criminologist, research assistant at Center for Research on Extremism.