Bias Motivated Incident Study in Northwest Indiana

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In the past few years there have been public reports of numerous bias motivated incidents in and around the City of Valparaiso. The occurrence of these incidents has raised questions as to the general pattern of these events. For example,

1. How many similar incidents have occurred in the area?
2. Where have these incidents occurred?
3. What has been involved in the incidents?
4. Are these incidents becoming more frequent?
5. Are these incidents becoming more severe?
6. Are there any patterns or trends in these incidents?

In order to address these questions, an exploratory study was conducted to examine bias incidents in and around the Valparaiso area. The focus is on what we have labeled bias motivated incidents. This is a much more inclusive category than hate crimes.

A hate crime, according to the FBI, is "a criminal offense committed against a person or property which is motivated in whole or in part by the offender's bias against race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or ethnicity/national origin." The definition of a bias incident used here is "behavior which constitutes an expression of hostility against the person or property of another because of the victim's race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or ethnicity/national origin." The key difference between the two is that one is a criminal offense (hate crime) and the other is an expression of hostility (bias incident), but may not reach the level of criminal activity.

The purpose of this study is to examine bias motivated incidents in Northwest Indiana, including their frequency, location, type, and severity, and to search for any other trends or patterns in these events. This will be accomplished by examining reports of such incidents in a local newspaper. The study is limited only to these accounts and does not rely on other sources. As such, it is simply an exploratory study of these issues. Future research will be necessary to create a more complete inventory of these incidents. Hopefully, these results will encourage others to use additional sources to develop a more complete database.