NEW RESEARCH: Defining and identifying hate motives: bias indicators for the Australian context

This report presents bias indicators for the Australian context and discusses their concept, uses, benefits and risks. The bias indicators we present are the result of extensive consultations with local experts including academics and practitioners working in law enforcement agencies, government and non-government organisations and community organisations. Our aim was to make sure that the list would be practical and relevant to practitioners working in the fields of hate crime and hate speech.

This report is structured in two parts: in Part 1, we introduce and discuss the concept of bias indicators, including their uses, benefits, and risks. In Part 2, we present a general list of bias indicators (which might be used to code a hate motivated incident), followed by discrete lists of bias indicators for specific target identities. We also present a separate list for online bias indicators, which might apply to one or more target identities.

Lead researcher Dr Matteo Vergani said

‘Our Tackling Hate project at CRIS has been advocating for a national hate crime and hate speech database in Australia. This would codify a broad ecosystem of hate, and it would help communities to know what to report where. It would finally allow Australian policy makers to track trends of hate, to evaluate mitigation strategies and to inform future policies, programs and legislation. Adopting shared bias indicators like these is a critical point on the journey towards a national hate crime database, to providing better support for target communities and to ultimately reducing hate crimes in Australia.’

Trigger warning: this report discusses multiple forms of trauma, hate, and discrimination, including physical violence, racism, and homophobia.