Levin Jack - Hate crimes: the rising tide of bigotry and bloodshed

NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY

We acknowledge a number of individuals who have assisted us through the development and preparation of this book. First, we want to thank Deputy Superintendent William Johnston, former Commander of the Boston Police Department's Community Disorders Unit, who has dedicated his career to fighting hate crimes and has taught thousands of police and public officials (as well as the authors of this book) that hate crimes are among the most serious of all offenses. We also acknowledge the important activities of advocacy groups across the country, particularly the Anti-Defamation League of Bnai Brith; the Southern Poverty Law Center; the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force; the Prejudice Institute; and the National Hate Crime Prevention Center, whose members have worked for years, with little public encouragement, to document and address the suffering of hate crime victims.

In conducting the research for this book, we depended on the assistance of a number of individuals. We are particularly grateful to Michael Levin of the New York Institute of Technology, whose research assistance for this book was indispensable. We also thank Gordana Rabrenovic, Amy Farrell, Debbie Ramirez, Shea Cronin, Jen Balboni, Suzy Bennett, Glenn Pierce, and Robyn Miliano of Northeastern University's Institute for Race and Justice. Thanks to Janese Free, Colleen Keaney, Jason Mazaik, and Stas Vysotsky of Northeastern's Brudnick Center on Violence and Conflict for their support in developing and refining many of our ideas about hate crimes.

Other colleagues and associates who contributed important suggestions include Jim Nolan of the University of West Virginia, Nancy Kaufman of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston, Brian Levin of the Center on Hate and Extremism at California State University, Michael Lieberman of the Anti-Defamation League, Steve Wessler of the Center for the Prevention of Hate Violence at the University of Southern Maine, Joan Weiss and Stan Orchowski of the Judicial Research and Statistics Association, Karen McLaughlin of the Educational Development Center, and Chip Berlet of Political Action Associates. Our thanks to James Alan Fox, Arnold Arluke, Michael Brown, Morris Jenkins, Leonard Brown, Mervin Lynch, Debra Kaufman, Robert Hall, Will Holton, Tony Jones, Harlan Lane, Richard Lapchick, Bill Miles, Jeff OBrien, Donnie Perkins, Dan Givelber, Robert Fuller, Robert Croatti, Skip McCullough, Robin Chandler, Peter Murrell, and Patricia Golden (who died unexpectedly as we completed this book, but whose memory continues to inspire optimism about the future of race relations) of Northeastern University; Paul Bookbinder, Richard Robbins, and Albert Cardarelli of the University of Massachusetts, Boston; William Levin of Bridgewater State College; Dan Bibel of the Massachusetts Crime Reporting Unit; Larry Greenfeld, Jan Chaiken, Paul White, Charlie Kinderman, and Matt Hickman of the Bureau of Justice Statistics; Yoshio Akiyama, Bob McFall, John Jarvis, and Tony Pinnozotto of the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program; Rob Leikand, Andrew Tarsey, Marvin Nathan, Lenny Zakim, and Barry Morrison of the Anti-Defamation League of Bnai Brith; Mark Potok, Morris Dees, Richard Cohen, and Danny Welch of the Southern Poverty Law Center; Brian Flynn and Dan ONiel of the Boston Police Community Disorders Unit; Richard Cole of the Civil Rights Division of the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office; Christina Bouras, Pricilla Douglass, and Don Gorton, co-chairs of the Massachusetts Governor's Hate Crime Advisory Committee; Sheri Liebowitz of Suffolk University; Kevin Berrill of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force; Maty Walsh of the Community Relations Service; Hank Tischler of Framingham State College; Diana Brensilber of the Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety; Phil Lamy of Castleton State College; Deena Weinstein of De Paul University; Philip Jenkins of Penn State University; Bruce McCabe, Bill Porter, Francie Latorre, Larry Harmon, and Marjorie Pritchard of the Boston Globe; Shelly Cohen of the Boston Herald; Daniel Goleman of The New YorkTimes; Sharon Shaw Johnson of USA Today; Gary Field of the Wall Street Journal; and Scott Wolfman, Greg Bura, and Jordan Miller of Wolfman Productions. In addition, we owe a debt of gratitude to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, US Department of Education Safe and Drug Free Schools, and the Boston Foundation for providing funding for some of the research cited in this book.

We also acknowledge the valuable input and insights of Irving and Betty Brudnick, Robert Agnew, Ed Dunbar, Howard Ehrlich, Raphael Ezekiel, Mark Hamm, Range Hutson, Paul Iganski,Valerie Jenness, Fred Lawrence, Meredith Watts, Bill Stone, Alan Rosen, Heather Walcutt, Daniel Weiss, Eric Silverman, Paul Maas, Paula McCabe, Jason Landau, Deborah Baiano, Louis Kontos, Karen Lischinsky, Kevin Borgeson, Kim McInnis, Michele Eayrs, Michael Kozack, Gail Pessas, Bizhan Monavarian, George Parangamilil, Lewis Chow, Monica Cantwell, Louise Lafontaine, Deb Ross, Kim McCarthy, Samantha Bouchard, Rich Sparaco, Steve Ostervitz, Shana Baxter, Lisa Bailey, Nancy Tierney, Chrisie Halkett, Anna Bouteneff, Tracy Johniken, Lisa Sanbonmatsu, Paul Phillips, Josh Shafran, Myron Lench, Lin Dawson, and all of the students who have participated in the prejudice panel for Sociology of Prejudice.

In addition to our students and colleagues at Northeastern University, we are indebted to President Richard Freeland, former President Jack Curry, Provost David Hall, Vice Provost Ron Hedland, Pat Meserve, Daryl Hellman, Dean James Stellar in the College of Arts and Sciences, and Dean Jack Greene in the College of Criminal Justice for their generous support of the research for this book; the Office of University Communications with special thanks to Terry Yanulavich and Laura Schmidt; William Frohlich of Northeastern University Press; Linda Regan of Prometheus Books; members of the Society Organized Against Racism, particularly Pat Venter; and Vice President John OBryant, whose untimely death ended a brilliant career. We would also like to thank Marion Sullivan at Northeastern University and Katharine Chandler of Westview Press for their skillful assistance in preparing this manuscript and our competent and creative editor at Westview Press, Jill Rothenberg, whose feedback was responsible for many improvements in the final version of the book.