Date of Graduation

5-2026

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Sociology (MA)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

Sociology and Criminology

Advisor/Mentor

Gruenewald, Jeffrey

Committee Member

Allison, Kayla

Second Committee Member

Windisch, Steven

Keywords

Attempted murder; Bias homicide; Bias-motivated crime; Murder; Severity; Situational crime prevention

Abstract

Although overall violent crime rates continue to decline, bias-motivated violence, including bias murder, is rising in the United States (United States Department of Justice, 2024). Criminologists have examined how situational factors—such as location, weapon use, and bystander presence—increase the likelihood of violence escalating to murder. However, it remains unclear whether these same factors similarly affect the severity of bias-motivated violence. These gaps are notable given that prior research suggests bias-motivated violence differs situationally from other forms of violence. Guided by the situational crime prevention (SCP) perspective, the current study investigates how situated attributes of factors reflecting the vulnerability and symbolic nature of victims impact the severity of bias-motivated violence. This study draws on data from the Bias Homicide Database (BHDB), an open-source database documenting bias murders and attempted murders in the United States between 1990 and 2025. Using univariate, bivariate and multivariate analyses, this study reveals that the situational contexts in which bias murders occur often differ from those of bias attempted murders. Moreover, predicting whether one death occurs does not necessarily predict multiple deaths, so having multiple measures of severity is important to gaining a fuller understanding of the nuances of bias violence. These findings can inform violence prevention and mitigation strategies including increased security measures and alterations to physical and social environments.

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