Scrivens & Chermak Receive Funding to Conduct a Campbell Systematic Review

October 13, 2020

Dr. Ryan Scrivens and Dr. Steve Chermak are teaming up with researchers from the U.S., Canada, and Australia on a one-year project titled Scientific Knowledge and Approaches to Defining and Measuring Hate Crime, Hate Speech and Hate Incidents.

The roughly $192,000 project, funded by Public Safety Canada and contracted by the Campbell Collaboration Crime and Justice Coordinating Group, will serve as a review of the definitions and measurements used by scholars and practitioners. The multi-national team of researchers were inspired to take part in the review due to a lack of common definitions and measurements that are used to shape policies and programs at all levels of government.

The team of researchers are hoping to answer three basic questions with their review:

1. How are hate crimes, hate speech and hate incidents defined in the academic literature, legal statutes, and policy and programing?
2. What are the inclusion criteria for such definitions? What are the most common elements found across all definitions? What are the most controversial elements, or those on which definitions are at odds as to whether they should be included?
3. How are definitions operationalized for measuring hate crimes, hate speech and hate incidents?

Researchers believe that conducing this review, and answering these questions, will enable a re-examination of the strengths and weaknesses of the current definitions and measurements used and ways to improve them. Dr. Scrivens says “this research is much needed to inform policies, programs, and research for a country like Canada, as well as advocacy for improving legislation.”