On Monday the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program released its annual Hate Crime Statistics Report, which is a compilation of bias-motivated incidents that have been reported throughout the United States.
The report provides information on the offenses, victims, offenders and locations of hate crimes. The latest report, which reflects bias-related incidents reported for the year 2016, identifies 6,121 criminal incidents that were motivated by a bias toward race, ethnicity, ancestry, religion, sexual orientation, disability, gender or gender identity.
For the 2016 report, 15,254 law-enforcement agencies provided from one to 12 months of data on bias-motivated crimes. There were 1,776 agencies that reported one or more incidents, and the remaining agencies reported no bias-motivated incidents in their jurisdictions.
Here are the key takeaways:
In 2016, race was reported for 5,770 known hate crime offenders. Of these offenders:
- 46.3 percent were white.
- 26.1 percent were black or African American.
- 7.7 percent were of groups made up of individuals of various races (group of multiple races).
- 0.8 percent (46 offenders) were Asian.
- 0.8 percent (45 offenders) were American Indian or Alaska Native.
- 0.1 percent (7 offenders) were Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander.
- 18.1 percent were of unknown race or ethnicity.
- 6,063 of the 6,121 incidents reported were single-bias incidents.
- There were 58 incidents that involved multiple biases.
Of the single-bias incidents:
- 57.5 percent were motivated by a race, ethnicity or ancestry bias;
- 21 percent were motivated by a religious bias;
- 17.7 percent were motivated by a sexual orientation bias;
- The remaining incidents were motivated by a gender identity, disability or gender bias.
Most hate crime incidents took place near residences (27.3 percent) or on or near some type of roadway (18.4 percent), while the remaining incidents happened at a variety of other locations, including schools, houses of worship, commercial and government buildings, restaurants, nightclubs, parking lots and garages, playgrounds and parks and medical facilities.
There were a total of 7,615 reported victims of hate crimes. According to the FBI, victims of hate crimes can be individuals, businesses, government entities, religious organizations or society as whole, and they can be committed against persons, property or society.
Of the 7,615 victims reported in 2016, 4,720 were victims of crimes against their person (adults and minors), 2,813 were victims of crimes against property and 82 were victims of crimes against society, which includes weapons violations, drug offenses, gambling, etc.
In response to the report, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said the following in a released statement:
No person should have to fear being violently attacked because of who they are, what they believe or how they worship.
In June, the Hate Crimes Subcommittee of the Justice Department’s Task Force on Crime Reduction and Public Safety met with representatives from affected communities. The subcommittee continues to explore ways to expand and improve training for federal, state and local prosecutors and investigators; improve data collection of hate crimes; and to create even better partnerships with local law enforcement and affected communities.
The full report of the Task Force is due in January, but there are actions we can take now, like continuing to aggressively prosecute those who violate an individual’s civil rights. Most recently, the Justice Department cross-designated a Civil Rights Division prosecutor to assist in the trial of an Iowa man accused of murdering Kedarie Johnson, a transgender teenager. I was pleased to learn on Nov. 3, 2017, that the trial resulted in a conviction, and the man now faces life in prison.
The Department of Justice is committed to ensuring that individuals can live without fear of being a victim of violent crime based on who they are, what they believe, or how they worship.”
Read the full report here.