Archival Version

This study was based on both primary and secondary data obtained from crime victims and institutional sources. The research involved the analysis of multiple datasets related to victims of bias- and non-bias-motivated assaults, and was intended to yield a spectrum of information on the victims' psychological and behavioral experiences and the patterns of prior criminal behavior by alleged offenders and victims. Data were collected on all 560 cases from the Boston Police Department's Community Disorders Unit from 1992 to 1997 that involved a victim of a bias-motivated aggravated assault. In addition, data were collected on a 1-percent stratified random sample of victims of non-bias assaults within the city of Boston from 1993 to 1997, resulting in another 544 cases. For each of the cases, up to 49 items of information were collected from each police incident report. These included the victim's date of birth, sex, and race, the name of the known offenders, and the date, time, location, and nature of the incident. Additionally, the researchers attempted to contact each victim in the sample to participate in a survey about their victimization experiences. Initial contact with each victim was made through an introductory letter sent to the home address recorded on the police report at the time of the incident. Approximately 50 percent of the introductory letters sent to the victim groups were returned as undeliverable by the United States Postal Service. The researchers then used an online computer service called Autotrak to locate probable current addresses for the undeliverable sample. A total of 441 (79 percent) of the surveys from the sample of 560 bias crime victims and 418 (77 percent) of the surveys from the sample of 544 non-bias-motivated assault victims appeared to be successfully delivered using these methods. Due to a low response rate, a random sample of 100 nonrespondents from each victim group was recontacted and offered a $15 incentive to complete the survey. These overall efforts yielded a final total of 91 completed surveys (21 percent) from the bias victim sample and 45 completed surveys (11 percent) from the non-bias victim sample. The victim questionnaires included open-ended, matrix, and contingency questions in five general categories: (1) incident information, (2) police response, (3) prosecutor response, (4) personal impact of the crime, and (5) respondent personal characteristics. Victims whose names appeared to be of Latino or Vietnamese origin were sent versions of the questionnaire in their native language as well as in English. Additional information was also obtained from criminal history records for identified offenders and victims in each case.本研究基于从犯罪受害者及机构渠道获取的一手与二手数据展开。本研究针对涉及偏见动机袭击与非偏见动机袭击受害者的多组数据集开展分析，旨在系统获取受害者的心理与行为经历，以及涉案犯罪嫌疑人与受害者既往犯罪行为模式的相关信息。研究团队收集了1992年至1997年间波士顿警察局社区治安单元（Community Disorders Unit）全部560起偏见动机加重袭击案件的数据，所有案件的受害者均遭受偏见动机袭击。此外，研究团队于1993年至1997年间，从波士顿市内非偏见动机袭击受害者群体中抽取1%分层随机样本（stratified random sample），最终获取544起案件的相关数据。针对每起案件，研究团队从每份警方事件报告中提取最多49项信息，具体包括受害者出生日期、性别、种族，已知犯罪嫌疑人姓名，以及案件发生的日期、时间、地点与事件性质。此外，研究团队尝试联系样本中的每位受害者，开展关于其受害经历的问卷调查。首次联系通过向案件发生时警方记录的家庭地址寄送介绍函完成。美国邮政署（United States Postal Service）将约50%寄送至受害者群体的介绍函退回，标注为无法投递。随后，研究团队借助名为Autotrak的在线计算机服务，为无法投递的样本对象查找当前可用的联系地址。通过上述方式，560名偏见犯罪受害者样本中共有441份（79%）问卷成功送达，544名非偏见动机袭击受害者样本中共有418份（77%）问卷成功送达。鉴于整体回收率偏低，研究团队从每个受害者群体中随机抽取100名未回应者进行二次联系，并为完成问卷的受访者提供15美元的物质奖励。本次调查最终共回收偏见受害者样本的有效问卷91份（回收率21%），非偏见受害者样本的有效问卷45份（回收率11%）。受害者调查问卷涵盖开放式问题、矩阵式问题（matrix question）与列联问题（contingency question），分为五大核心类别：（1）事件基本信息；（2）警方处置情况；（3）检察官处置；（4）犯罪行为对个人造成的影响；（5）受访者个人特征。对于姓名疑似拉丁裔或越南裔的受害者，研究团队同步寄送母语版本与英语版本的调查问卷。此外，研究团队还从每名案件中已确认的犯罪嫌疑人与受害者的犯罪历史记录中获取了额外补充信息。