Unveiling the Nexus: How Bias Victimization Experiences among Latinx Communities Impact Political Engagement

Sarah Lockwood, Kevin Drakulich, Alexis Yohros, Amy Farrell, Carlos A. Cuevas and Rachel Chavez

Social Science Quarterly, 2025, vol. 106, issue 5

Abstract: Objective Hate crimes aim to send a message of exclusion: that someone does not belong in the civic polity because of some dimension of the victim's identity. Surprisingly, little work has directly investigated whether hate crimes—and bias‐motivated victimizations more broadly—have the intended effect: discouraging the political engagement of victims. One barrier to answering this question is that marginalized populations most likely to experience these victimizations are less likely to appear in traditional surveys. Method Using a community‐based sample from three cities of Latinx Americans who have been the victims of bias crime, we examine the impact of bias victimization on political engagement. Results We find interestingly divergent effects: bias victimizations reduce participants' faith in government, while bias and non‐biased victimizations increase local political participation, and only non‐biased victimizations increase voting. Conclusion In other words, bias victimizations decrease faith in government but may backfire by inspiring rather than discouraging local political participation.

Date: 2025
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