Prototype theory states that people have certain expectations when it comes to perpetrators and victims of acts of discrimination. A scenario was developed wherein victim type, severity of assault, assault location, and victim-perpetrator relationship were varied. The perception of bias as a motive and the labeling of the scenario as a hate crime were significantly affected by the independent variables. Scenarios featuring an African American victim were more likely to be labeled as a hate crime than those targeting a non-minority woman. Other factors that resulted in an increased application of the hate crime label were a) the attack was committed by a stranger, b) the attack was more severe, and c) the attack occurred following a political meeting instead of a college class. Overall this study showed that participants did not perceive crimes committed against women to be hate crimes unless that woman was of prototypical minority.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:MSSTATE/oai:scholarsjunction.msstate.edu:td-3379 |
| Date | 11 December 2009 |
| Creators | Hertl, Jordan Thore |
| Publisher | Scholars Junction |
| Source Sets | Mississippi State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Theses and Dissertations |
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