Black Out-group Marriages and Hate Crime Rates: A Cross-sectional Analysis of U.S. Metropolitan Areas

• Author: Sylwia J. Piatkowska,Andreas Hövermann,Steven F. Messner
• Published date: 01 February 2020
• DOI: 10.1177/0022427819864142
• Date: 01 February 2020
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Black Out-group

Marriages and Hate

Crime Rates:

A Cross-sectional

Analysis of U.S.

Metropolitan Areas

Sylwia J. Piatkowska

1

, Steven F. Messner

2

,

and Andreas Ho

¨vermann

3,4

Abstract

Objectives: This study introduces an indicator of racial out-group marriage to

the research on hate crime. Drawing upon a variant of group threat theory,

we hypothesize that Black out-group marriage with Whites will be posi-

tively related to anti-Black hate crime rates insofar as such marriages are

perceived as transgressions of cultural boundaries. Informed by Allport’s

contact theory, we hypothesize that Black out-group marriage with Whites

will be negatively related to anti -Black hate crime rates insofar as s uch

marriages indicate intercultural accommodation. Methods: Using data for

1

College of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA

2

Department of Sociology, University at Albany, Albany, NY, USA

3

Institute for Interdisciplinary Research on Conflict and Violence (IKG), University of Bielefeld,

Bielefeld, Germany

4

Department of Sociology, University at Albany, SUNY, Albany, NY, USA

Corresponding Author:

Sylwia J. Piatkowska, College of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Florida State University,

Eppes Hal, 112 S. Copeland Street, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA.

Email: spiatkowska@fsu.edu

Journal of Research in Crime and

Delinquency

2020, Vol. 57(1) 105-135

ªThe Author(s) 2019

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/0022427819864142

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a sample of U.S. Metropolitan Statistical Areas circa 2010, we assess our

hypotheses with two operationalizations of levels of hate crime—incidence

rates and victimization rates. Results: Our results reveal that levels of Black

out-group marriages with Whites are positively related to the Black hate

crime victimization rate but not related to the incidence rate. Conclusions:

Our analyses suggest that any salutary effect of intercultural accommoda-

tion associated with interracial marriage is overwhelmed by the influence of

the perceived cultural threat and intensification of animus for the “at-risk”

population for perpetrating anti-Black hate crimes.

Keywords

hate crime, metropolitan statistical areas, Black out-group marriages

Over the course of the past few decades, research on the correlates of levels

of crime motivated by bias has flourished. This literature has been guided

primarily by theories of intergroup crime and bigoted violence (Blalock

1967; Blumer 1958; Disha, Cavendish, a nd King 2011). These theories

assume that hate crimes arise out of the perceived threat posed by the

subordinate group to the privileged position of the dominant group. The

most commonly studied structural conditions under investigation have been

those that can be theorized to constitute a “realistic” threat to group dom-

inance. These structural conditions include the relative size of the minority

population, economic competition, and differential political power (Disha

et al. 2011; Green, Strolovitch, and Wong 1998; Lyons 2007, 2008).

Another body of research depicts hate crimes against out-group members

as a function of perceived threat to the cultural integrity of the in-group

more so than as a reaction to the direct competition between the groups over

scarce resources (Glaser et al. 2002; Green, Abelson, and Garnett 1999;

Huddy and Sears 1995; Lyons 2007; Suttles 1972). Applying terms of the

social psychological integrated threat theory (Stephan and Stephan 2000),

this line of research focuses on “symbolic threat” as opposed to realistic

threat in predicting crime motivated by bias.

1

In the present study, we extend prior work by introducing interracial

marriage into the hate crime literature. Prior research on extremist popula-

tions suggests that such marriages might constitute a potentially potent

symbolic threat (Glaser et al. 2002; Green et al. 1999). We focus specifi-

cally on the frequency with which members of the potentially threatening

minority group (Blacks) marry with members of the dominant group

106 Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 57(1)