1. Reporting And Documenting Hate Crimes
Learning Module 4
Reporting And
Documenting Hate Crimes

5. Why is Hate Crime Reporting Important?

6. Obstacles to Reporting
• Victims • Police/Law Enforcement • Campuses
Copyright ©2001. Wiley-Cordone, J. Preventing Youth Hate Crime: A Multidisciplinary Training Manual. National Center for Hate Crime Prevention, Education Development Center, Inc.: Newton, MA. Used with permission

7. Obstacles to Reporting
Why might victims be reluctant to report hate crimes to police?
What might prevent police from documenting crimes as bias motivated?
Why might law enforcement agencies not send documented cases to the FBI?
Why might campus administrators choose not to involve police?
Copyright ©2001. Wiley-Cordone, J. Preventing Youth Hate Crime: A Multidisciplinary Training Manual. National Center for Hate Crime Prevention, Education Development Center, Inc.: Newton, MA. Used with permission

8. Where Would You Report Hate Incidents on Your Campus?

9. Action 1
Where to Report Bias Hate Incidents? Unknown perpetrators vandalized the Chicano Cultural Center, breaking windows, ransacking the interior and spray painting: "Wetbacks don't belong. Learn the language. Affirmative action must end!"
Copyright © Tolerance.org, A Project of the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Used with permission

10. Action 2
Where to Report Bias Hate Incidents? During the Take Back the Night march against sexual assault, two male students lean out of their dorm room window and yell: "You whores!" to the people participating in the march.
Copyright © Tolerance.org, A Project of the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Used with permission

11. Action 3
Where to Report Bias Hate Incidents? Two lesbian students, one white and one black, are returning from a gay film at the student center. As they walk down a campus street, a car drives by. Someone leans out of the car, throws a beer can at the women and screams: "You race traitor dyke!" The can hits one of the women in the face, resulting in a laceration that requires medical attention.
Copyright © Tolerance.org, A Project of the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Used with permission

12. Action 4
Where to Report Bias Hate Incidents? A group of students in an all-white fraternity dress in blackface and Klan robes and participate in mock lynchings as part of the fraternity's Halloween celebrations. African American students are horrified after discovering pictures of the "celebration" on the university's web site.
Copyright © Tolerance.org, A Project of the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Used with permission

13. Creating Campus Bias Incident Team

14. BIRT Guiding Principles
1. Reports are considered truthful until shown not to be true; i.e., persons who consider themselves to have been victimized are believed. 2. While knowledge about motivation of alleged offenders can be useful in planning responses, the perceived motivation also must be considered. Even in the absence of knowledge about motivation, the teams can still assist persons who report having been victimized. 3. For the teams to take steps to resolve a situation, they must first have consent from persons who have reported being victimized. This does not preclude, however, taking action that could be considered general, as opposed to directly related to an individual case.
Copyright ©2003. Adapted from Windmeyer, Shane L. & Freeman, Pamela W. from The Lambda 10 Project; Fraternity and Sorority Anti-Homophobia Training Manual (
Use with permission

15. BIRT Guiding Principles
4. The teams do not conduct formal investigations per se, but their decisions must be based on information believed to be factual because of evidence that is available; e.g., if a victim does not want the team to contact persons who may have information about facts, the team’s ability to act is greatly reduced. 5. In all cases, a primary goal of the teams is to make systems that already exist work effectively in resolving conflicts; i.e., the teams do not replace existing mechanisms, such as staff in other offices whose job it normally would be to intervene in a given case.
Copyright ©2003. Adapted from Windmeyer, Shane L. & Freeman, Pamela W. from The Lambda 10 Project; Fraternity and Sorority Anti-Homophobia Training Manual (
Use with permission

16. BIRT Guiding Principles
6. When there is no existing procedure for resolving an incident, the teams will intervene to the extent that the victim wishes. 7. The teams do not advocate for victims "at all costs." If the rights of others would be violated in carrying out action requested by a victim, an alternate action that protects the rights of all parties must be sought. The teams will never condone responses that violate law or university policy. The team response does not always satisfy all parties.
Copyright ©2003. Adapted from Windmeyer, Shane L. & Freeman, Pamela W. from The Lambda 10 Project; Fraternity and Sorority Anti-Homophobia Training Manual (
Use with permission

17. Benefits of BIRT Approach
• Support to Victims • Systematic Response Mechanism • Anonymity as an Option • Team Approach to Fight Hate • Documentation • Message Against Hate • Prevention Work
Copyright ©2003. Adapted from Windmeyer, Shane L. & Freeman, Pamela W. from The Lambda 10 Project; Fraternity and Sorority Anti-Homophobia Training Manual (
Use with permission