| The present study examines the effects of sub-national correlates on the changing rates of racially motivated crime across different regions and counties in seven European countries between 1996 and 2013. Using pooled cross-sectional time-series data on officially recorded racist crimes, I examine whether the regional and county levels of racially motivated crime in these countries' subnational jurisdictions have been influenced over time by the size of the foreign-born population, increased immigration, and the economic conditions. In developing hypotheses about the effects of these factors, I draw primarily upon the theories of intergroup crime and prejudice.;The results from multilevel hybrid panel rate models for the full set of nations show that the relative size of the foreign-born population and increased immigration are each concave curvilinearly associated with the levels of racist crime: there is an inverse relationship between minority group size and hate crime level. However, there may be a tipping point, after which this trend is altered and the relationship changes. As minority group size becomes extremely large, minorities become increased targets of hate-motivated violence. These findings, thus, lend support for particular U-shaped trend relating both foreign-born population size and increased immigration to racially motivated crime. The results also show that the effects of immigration and the relative size of foreign-born population vary depending on the geographical level. Specifically, racially motived crime is curvilinearly related to immigration rates at NUTS 1 and NUTS 2 and relative size of the foreign-born population at the NUTS 3 level. The results for the subsamples of nations support these findings.;Taken together, the findings of this study demonstrate that the effects of foreign-born population size and immigration rates on racially motivated crime between the nations should be attributed to contextual effects related to nation. They also suggest the need for new points of departure in theorizing. Indeed, while the power-differential hypothesis and intergroup contact hypothesis offer some explanation, they fail to predict the concave associations found in this study. An important task for future research, then, is to theorize more fully and thoroughly the interconnections between hate crimes and demographics. |
