NOTE: Faculty, if you are interviewed and quoted by news media, or if your work has been cited, and you have an online link to the article or video, please let us know. Contact us at news@csusb.edu.
Hate crime hoaxes are exceedingly rare, CSUSB professor saysNPR The show All Things Considered posted the transcript and audio of a Feb. 23 segment on the Jussie Smollett case in which Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at Cal State San Bernardino, said “hate crime hoaxes are exceedingly rare.” Said Gene Demby of NPR's Code Switch team, about 2 minutes into the segment: “Brian Levin, who's the director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at Cal State San Bernardino, he's tried his best to keep track. And he says that just from the data that they have that hate crime hoaxes are exceedingly rare.” In a sound clip, Levin said, “Over the last three years, we've counted about 48. During that time, we estimate that there's about 21,000 hate crimes.” Added Demby “Forty-eight out of 21,000. I mean, that's less than a percent. And so, you know, it's worth asking why an outlier case like this has gotten so much attention, why it's gotten so much oxygen. But Levin also went on to say that the number of hoaxes has been dropping, but the number of incidences of hate crimes, from their calculations, has been on the uptick.” Read the transcript, and listen to the online audio report, at “A look at why victims of hate crimes often aren’t believed.”
This news clip and others may be found at In the Headlines” at inside.csusb.edu.