The Riddle of Justness: explaining regional differences in discriminatory incidents

Abstract

This master thesis aims to explain regional differences in discriminatory incidents on the grounds of race and religion registered by the Dutch police. The mixed method design combines a quantitative analysis of external factors with a qualitative analysis of the internal factors from the police registration system in explaining regional differences in registered discrimination numbers. External neighbourhood factors derived from social scientific theories such as the ethnic competition theory and contact theory are used to explain numbers of registered discriminatory incidents of the police districts. The findings show some supporting evidence for the ethnic competition theory and the criminological theory with regard to factors influencing the willingness to report crimes. The relative number of beneficiary recipients until retirement age, the relative number of inhabitants receiving a low income and a higher average standardized income were found to explain a significant part of the variability between the percentage inhabitants of non-western origin and the number of discrimination incidents. However, most interaction variables were found to be insignificant or significant in the (unexpected) opposite direction. Internal factors of the qualitative sub-study such as differences in availability of time, expertise, cooperation with external partners, priority given to discrimination and differences in the decision criterion are useful factors for interpreting the unexplained variance of the quantitative model.