Hate-motivated Crime/Incidents Against Asians in the United States of America: A Systematic Review

• Author: Chunrye Kim,Claire Seungeun Lee,Hyeyoung Lim
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/21533687221117280
• Published date: 01 January 2023
• Date: 01 January 2023
• Subject Matter: Articles

Hate-motivated Crime/

Incidents Against Asians

in the United States of

America: A Systematic Review

Chunrye Kim

1

, Claire Seungeun Lee

2

,

and Hyeyoung Lim

3

Abstract

Although hate-motivated incidents and crimes against Asians are not a new phenom-

enon, there has been a lack of scholarly attention on the topic. Using a systematic

review, we examine, assess, and analyze 23 published peer-reviewed articles that

have explored hate-motivated crime/incidents against Asians in the United States of

America between 2000 and 2020. We found all studies included in this systematic

review examined microaggressions and/or discrimination, and tended to lump all dif-

ferent Asian subgroups into “Asians.”In addition, most studies focused on the con-

sequences of hate-motivated incidents, such as mental and physical health. We

suggest a future research agenda and direction that f‌ills the gap in scholarly journal

articles on Asian hate-motivated incidents in the United States.

Keywords

hate, Asian, COVID-19, microaggression, United States, systematic review

1

Sociology and Criminal Justice Department, Saint Joseph’s University, 5100 City Ave, Post Hall 133,

Philadelphia, PA, 19131-1308, USA

2

School of Criminology and Justice Studies, University of Massachusetts Lowell, 113 Wilder St, Lowell, MA,

01854, USA

3

Department of Criminal Justice, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 1201 University Blvd., UBOB 210,

Birmingham, AL 35294-4562, USA

Corresponding Author:

Chunrye Kim, Sociology and Criminal Justice Department, Saint Joseph’s University, 5100 City Ave, Post

Hall 133, Philadelphia, PA, 19131-1308, USA.

Email: ckim@sju.edu

Article

Race and Justice

2023, Vol. 13(1) 9-31

© The Author(s) 2022

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/21 533687221117280

journals.sagepub.com/home/raj

Introduction

Hate crimes refer to a “criminal offense against a person or property motivated in

whole or in part by an offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orien-

tation, ethnicity, or gender identity”(FBI, 2021). Recently, hate crimes against Asians

have received lots of media attention. According to the FBI report, the number of hate

crimes against Asians between 2019 and 2020 (since the COVID-19 pandemic)

increased by over 73%, from 161 in 2019 to 279 in 2020 (Venkatraman, 2021). In

addition, Stop AAPI Hate, which tracks hate-motivated incidents and crimes against

Asians and Pacif‌ic Islanders, revealed that the numbers of hate incidents—including

verbal harassment, shunning, physical assaults, and civil rights violations—was

4,548 in 2020 and 4,455 in 2021 in the United States (Yellow Horse et al., 2021).

Although the number of reported hate crimes and related discrimination against

Asians has increased in recent years, this is not a new phenomenon. Throughout

history, Asian Americans have experienced physical and verbal violence as well as dis-

crimination due to their ethnicity, but it has been seriously underreported (Lantz &

Wenger, 2021). For instance, Lantz and Wenger (2021) found that Asian compared

to non-Asian, who experienced a hate crime during the COVID-19 pandemic are sig-

nif‌icantly less likely to report victimization to the police. They found that the main

reasons not to report were that victims thought the crime was minor and were not

sure whether their experience could be def‌ined as a crime, although many of these inci-

dents were, in fact, severe enough. This indicates once again that hate crimes against

Asians are much more prevalent than the reported rates suggest.

Victimization caused by hate crime, discrimination, and bias have serious negative

consequences, including mental and physical health issues (Barnes & Ephross, 1994;

Williams & Tregidga, 2014), decreased social capital, and increased inequality (Gover

et al., 2020), and social-behavioral changes such as relocation due to crime

(Kutateladze, 2021). However, most studies on hate crimes focus on other minority

groups, such as African Americans and Hispanics (see Zhang et al., 2021). Thus,

little is known about the status of research on hate-motivated incidents against

Asians. In addition, no studies have systematically reviewed the factors associated

with those incidents and the consequences Asian Americans face when they experi-

ence hate crimes and hate-motivated incidents. The lack of scholarly attention on

Asian hate crimes and related incidents underestimates the prevalence and negative

consequences Asian Americans experience. Thus, it hampers our ability to implement

appropriate policies to prevent crimes and help victims.

To that aim, this study provides an overview of the current status of scholarly

research on hate-motivated incidents against Asian Americans, published between

2007 and 2020. This study is especially interested in examining (1) the types of inci-

dents (e.g., hate crime, discrimination, bias, etc.), (2) the methodology each study used,

(3) causes and consequences of hate-motivated incidents, (4) theoretical frameworks

that guided research, and (5) practice and intervention recommendations. Through

this research, we aim to provide a future research agenda and direction that informs

future scholarship relating to Asian hate-motivated incidents in the United States.

10 Race and Justice 13(1)