Estimated Cost of Hate Crimes to Phoenix Residents in 2022 Between $39 and $160 Million, Reports Bard Center for the Study of Hate and Anti-Defamation League’s Desert Region

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.—The Bard Center for the Study of Hate (BCSH), in partnership with the ADL Desert Region, has released a new report: The Societal Impacts of Hate Crimes: A Case Study. What emerges from this study is a staggering cost–the estimate for the “hate tax” on Phoenix residents from hate crime in 2022 is between $39 million and $160 million.

Building on the groundbreaking work of Bard Associate Professor of Economics Michael Martell, and his 2023 analysis of the “Economic Costs of Hate Crimes,” the ADL Desert Region’s GRACE Committee (Government Relations Advocacy and Community Engagement Committee) sought to quantify the costs of hate crimes in Phoenix for the year in 2022. Using Martell’s model, and assisted by BCSH summer intern Mimla Wardak, the GRACE committee reached out to leaders in Phoenix to gather data, but also to discuss the various costs associated with hate crime, such as the need to use money that could otherwise have supported community projects on infrastructure security instead.

This joint project, led by BCSH director Kenneth Stern and ADL- Desert Region’s GRACE Committee chair Bob Braudy, was designed as a model that other communities in the US and abroad can use too.

In a joint statement, Stern and Braudy emphasized the broader implications of the report. Stern and Braudy said, “Hate crimes reverberate in any community, and we think of the moral costs associated with them, as well as the legal implications. But calculating and underscoring the societal costs is a critical project, not only to remind people of the financial costs of hate crimes, but also highlighting the things that community groups and others might otherwise accomplish to benefit everyone if millions didn’t have to be diverted because of the costs of hate crimes.”

The next step in Phoenix involves the use of the report for meetings with community groups, government officials, and others, to plan together how to reduce these costs.

BCSH is willing to help other communities design their own assessments, and follow-up plans. Contact BCSH director Kenneth Stern at kstern@bard.edu. About BCSH
The Bard Center for the Study of Hate (BCSH) works to increase the serious study of human hatred, and ways to combat it. The Center supports faculty and students throughout the Bard network who want to study and/or combat hatred and its various manifestations. BCSH brings scholars from diverse disciplines to Bard College and all of its campuses to speak about the human capacity to hate and demonize others. It places, mentors, and supports students working at internships with nongovernmental organizations that combat hate. It funds students at Bard whose Senior Projects relate to the study of hate, and who need additional resources for their research. BCSH seeks to impact public discussion about hatred nationally and internationally. The Center is a program of Bard’s Human Rights Project. The Bard Center for the Study of Hate was established in 2018 with a generous endowment from the Justus & Karin Rosenberg Foundation.

About Bard College
Founded in 1860, Bard College is a four-year residential college of the liberal arts and sciences located 90 miles north of New York City. With the addition of the Montgomery Place and Massena properties, Bard’s campus consists of more than 1,200 parklike acres in the Hudson River Valley. It offers bachelor of arts, bachelor of science, and bachelor of music degrees, with majors in nearly 40 academic programs; advanced degrees through 13 graduate programs; nine early colleges; and numerous dual-degree programs nationally and internationally. Building on its 165-year history as a competitive and innovative undergraduate institution, Bard College has expanded its mission as a private institution acting in the public interest across the country and around the world to meet broader student needs and increase access to liberal arts education. The undergraduate program at the main campus in upstate New York has a reputation for scholarly excellence, a focus on the arts, and civic engagement. Bard is committed to enriching culture, public life, and democratic discourse by training tomorrow’s thought leaders. For more information about Bard College, visit bard.edu.

This event was last updated on 04-11-2025

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