Closing the LGBTQ+ Hate Crime Gap
The HIRISE+ study was a three-year research initiative designed to understand why underreporting of potential hate crimes continues from both victim and police perspectives. The project was supported by a partnership between NORC at the University of Chicago, the Police Executive Research Forum, and LGBTQ+ liaison units within four major metropolitan areas (Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Atlanta, Georgia; San Diego, California; and Dallas, Texas) across the United States. Over three years, the study team collected mixed methods data across these four cities to explore how reporting operates, why victims do or do not report, and why police do or do not categorize some bias-motivated crimes as hate crimes. The team subsequently developed evidence-based procedural recommendations to improve hate crime reporting among LGBTQ+ victims.