How victims conceptualize their experiences of hate crime

The aim of the study is to provide thevictims’perspective to the contemporary conceptualization of hate crime.Much attention has been given to the interpretational frameworks of offenders, and although victims’ definitions of hate crime are sometimes mentioned in passing in interview studies, this has never been a primary subject of study.The present study applies phenomenological analysisto 28semi-structured interviews with victims of hate crime. The results show that the participants primarily apply meaning to their experiences in social groups and use previous experiences to guide their interpretations. While the conceptualization of victims largely concurs withtheory presented by the research community and special interest organizations, they diverge from how hate crime is contextualized in hate crime legislation