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members.‖23 A group with a powerful mythology results in one resistant to ideological
challenges, and, therefore, it is more dangerous.
Mythologies nurtured, reinforced, and protected from outside ideas provide a forum where
group members can escape individual responsibility. ―When we lose our individual
independence in the corporateness of a mass movement we find a new freedom-freedom to
hate.‖24
Interviewing Techniques
Ironically, skinheads, especially hate-motivated skinheads, talk to anyone who will listen,
including law enforcement officers. One investigator who knew little about white-
supremacist ideology simply asked skinheads why they hated, what their tattoos meant,
and how skinhead groups were organized. Numerous interviews and observations
substantiated the initial information obtained by the investigator. On the other hand,
criminally motivated skinheads are less likely to talk because they act more like criminals.
Investigators should determine the motivation of skinheads when planning interview
strategies.
Hate-motivated skinheads have well-rehearsed answers for questions, such as ―Why do you
hate?‖ ―Can‘t you see what you‘re doing is wrong?‖ ―How would you like it if someone
picked on you because of your race?‖ Skinheads answer smugly they feel secure as
skinheads. Because hate masks personal insecurities, interviewers should temporarily
forego questions about why skinheads hate and strive to identify the skinheads‘ personal
insecurities. Interviewers should begin this probe by asking skinheads about their family
relationships, which probably represent the source of the skinhead‘s insecurities because a
sense of who people are and where they fit in society typically develops within the family
structure. Interviewers also should explore skinheads‘ future plans, educational goals, and
desired employment. This forces skinheads to see themselves as they really are. If forced to
look at themselves, skinheads become vulnerable, less resistant to rehabilitation, and, in
law enforcement settings, more likely to confess. This process could take several hours or
many months depending on the resistance level of the skinhead. This strategy proves less
effective when interviewing criminally motivated skinheads because they view themselves
as criminals who hate, rather than haters who commit criminal acts. More traditional
interviewing strategies have proven successful with criminally motivated skinheads.
Intervention Strategies
An accurate assessment of skinhead groups is critical to developing intervention strategies.
Dismantling immature skinhead groups proves easier than breaking down sophisticated
skinhead groups. Skinheads not solidly committed to supremacist ideology more likely will
respond to rehabilitation attempts than hard-core skinheads.25 Skinheads who have not
passed from Stage 4 (rhetoric) to Stage 5 (violence) will prove more receptive to
rehabilitation strategies than those skinheads who commit violence.
Investigators should approach criminally motivated skinhead groups by using tactics similar
to those used against criminal street gangs. Disrupting the activities of mature, hate-
motivated skinhead groups requires time and more elaborate interdiction strategies because
such groups are more unified and committed to their beliefs. Conversely, aggressive
prosecution constitutes an efficient means to disrupt immature, hate-motivated skinhead
groups.
Law enforcement used this technique to dismantle Peer Pride, an immature, hate-motivated
skinhead group in Palmdale, California. The FBI learned about Peer Pride when the group
hung a noose from a tree in front of the home of an African-American family. Five Peer Pride
members taunted the family with racial slurs and demanded that they move out of the

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neighborhood. Local law enforcement initially treated this incident as a prank because
hanging the noose was the only reported hate activity by the group. However, a
neighborhood canvass determined that Peer Pride members periodically sat in front of a
local fast food restaurant and shouted racial slurs at the African-American patrons. Instead
of leniency for the first-time offenders, the Los Angeles County District Attorney‘s Hate
Crimes Unit recommended harsh sanctions, including jail sentences. The effect was
immediate. The group disbanded and no other similar problems occurred in the
neighborhood. The incident, in and of itself, could have been interpreted as a prank, but, in
reality, the group was passing from Stage 3 to Stage 4 in the hate model.
In contrast, the Lancaster NLR group was a mature, hate- motivated skinhead group. Four
NLR members beat an African-American transient to death to earn the right to wear
lightning-bolt tattoos. According to the group‘s ritual, members only can earn lightning- bolt
tattoos by killing minorities. A review of police reports related to NLR criminal activities
clearly showed the NLR group progressing through the seven stages of the hate model.
School administrators and teachers can use the hate model to informally assess hate group
activities on campus. Identifying the stage in which a hate group is operating provides
valuable information to determine how dangerous the group is and what type of
intervention strategies to employ. Early intervention increases the probability of success,
especially before the transition period from rhetoric (Stage 4) to violence (Stage 5). These
strategies can range from informal sensitivity instruction to more formal programs, such as
the Juvenile Offenders Learning Tolerance (JOLT) program administrated by the Los Angeles
County District Attorney‘s Office Hate Crimes Unit. JOLT is a model intervention program
intended for first-- time, low-level offenders who face potential criminal prosecution and
school disciplinary action.
Conclusion
To develop and implement successful intervention strategies to deal with hate groups, law
enforcement personnel first must understand the hate process. The hate model identifies
the multiple stages of the hate process. Investigators can use this model to identify haters
who have not yet transitioned from hate rhetoric to hate violence and target them with
intervention programs, which have a higher probability of success. Likewise, law
enforcement personnel can identify and target hard-core haters with appropriate interdiction
strategies. Knowing how the hate process works helps interviewers penetrate the hate mask
and address the hater‘s underlying personal insecurities. If investigators can attenuate
these personal insecurities, haters will become more receptive to rehabilitation. Identifying
and understanding the stages of the hate process constitute the first steps in controlling
hate violence.
Endnotes
1 The authors based this article on their observations and interviews of several hundred self-
described skinheads, defined as "usually white males belonging to any of various, sometimes violent,
youth gangs whose members have close- shaven hair and often espouse whitesupremacist beliefs,"
Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 10th ed. (1996), s.v. "skinhead."
2 See Eric Hoffer, The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements (New York, NY:
Harper and Row, 1989).
3 Ibid.
4 Ibid.
5 Ibid.
6 Statistics, however, reveal that most hate crimes are not committed by hate groups. See U.S.
Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Uniform Crime Reporting Program, Hate Crime
Statistics 2000 (Washington, DC, 2001). For more information on collecting hate crime, see U.S.
Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Uniform Crime Reporting Program, Training
Guide for Hate Crime Data Collection (Washington, DC, 1997).