Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Victim Services topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
UCLA psychologist: noncriminal hate incidents can be as disabling as crimes; calls for tailored clinical responses
Summary
Dr. Edward Dunbar, a UCLA clinical psychologist, told the commission that underreporting and intersectional vulnerabilities hinder victims' help-seeking; he urged training to identify competent clinicians, integration with public-health and ER responses, and cautious use of restorative justice depending on offender history.
Dr. Edward Dunbar, a clinical professor of psychology at UCLA, told the California Commission on the State of Hate that clinicians and institutions must treat hate incidents as clinically significant events even when they do not meet the threshold of a criminal offense.
"A hate incident can be just as disabling psychologically as a literal hate crime," Dunbar said in his presentation, explaining that chronic taunting and harassment can produce post-traumatic stress and deter victims from seeking help or pursuing justice. He drew on decades of clinical work and cross-cultural research to argue that social and historical contexts shape reporting and trust in law enforcement.
Key points Dunbar raised: underreporting often reflects deep cultural and institutional distrust; intersectional identities (race, gender identity, immigrant status) correlate with lower reporting; clinicians and victim-service organizations need to identify "competent experts" with specific training in hate trauma rather than assuming general mental-health providers will suffice; and emergency-room and first-responder staff should be prepared to recognize and refer victims of bias-motivated harm.
On restorative justice he was measured: while restorative approaches have helped some offenders desist, he cautioned that restorative justice can retraumatize victims when offenders have long criminal histories or predatory personalities.
During Q&A, commissioners asked about the boundary between protected speech and harassment in public meetings and about specific protections for transgender people and immigrant communities; Dunbar recommended public-health messaging, education, and institutional safeguards (including ER protocols) to support victims and reduce barriers to reporting.
Dunbar provided the commission with a detailed enumeration of treatment goals and strategies and made supporting materials available to commissioners and stakeholders.
