Crime &Delinquency, Ahead of Print.
Matthew Shepard became a symbol of LGBTQ+ hate crimes and the lack of legislation surrounding the topic in 1998. Despite the length of time which has passed, Nolan et al. and Pezzella et al. cite a significant concern in the continued underreporting of hate crimes and the discrepancy between federal crime reports. By analyzing data from the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), Concatenated File, 1992 to 2021, this study focused on unreported LGBTQ+ hate crimes; specifically hate crimes based on sexual orientation. The findings, obtained through descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, and binary logistic regression, highlight the significance of police perceptions and victim-offender relationships as predictors of non-reporting, with policing perception being the strongest factor.