FBI Report Shows Decrease in Hate Crimes
Feature Story by civilrights.org staff - 10/29/2003
According to new data released by the FBI, the number of reported hate crimes decreased from a record-high 9,726 in 2001 to 7,462 in 2002 (a 23.3 percent decrease). The 7,462 hate crime incidents reported to the FBI in 2002 involved 8,832 separate offenses, 9,222 victims, and 7,314 known offenders.Since 1996, the Bureau has included a separate section summarizing hate crime data, collected under the 1990 Hate Crime Statistics Act, as part of its annual report on "Crime in the United States." (This year, Section II, pp. 55 to 58.)
Racial bias again represented the largest percentage of bias-motivated incidents (48.8 percent), followed by Religion Bias (19.1 percent), Sexual Orientation Bias (16.7 percent), Ethnicity Bias (14.8 percent) and Disability Bias (0.6 percent). Of the 7,462 incidents, 5,960 were crimes against persons, 2,823 were crimes against property, and the remaining 0.6 percent were crimes against society.
Anti-black bias was the most prevalent racial motivation, with 2,486 incidents (33.3 percent of all hate crimes), and anti-male homosexual bias was the most common sexual orientation motivation, with 825 incidents (11.1 percent of all hate crimes).
The number of reported anti-Islamic crimes decreased from 481 in 2001 to 155 in 2002, a decrease of 67.8 percent. In addition, the number of hate crimes directed at individuals on the basis of their national origin or ethnicity also decreased significantly – from 2,098 in 2001 to 1,102 in 2002.
The number of national law enforcement agencies reporting to the FBI in 2002 increased slightly from 11,987 to 12,073 – the second highest total of participating agencies in the twelve-year history of the data collection effort. However, of the 12,073 that participated, only 1,868 agencies (15.5 percent) reported even a single hate crime, a slight increase from the 17.6 percent that reported incidents in 2001. Thus, for 2002, 10,205 agencies (84.5 percent) reported no hate crimes.
Of the 7,314 identified hate crime offenders, whites made up the majority (4,517, or 61.8 percent), blacks made up 21.8 percent, 10.0 percent were of unknown race, and the remainder were of other races or multiple races.
The five states with the highest numbers of hate crime were: California (1,648 incidents, 22.1 percent of total reported incidents), New York (693, 9.3 percent), New Jersey (570, 7.6 percent), Massachusetts (430, 5.8 percent), and Michigan (416, 5.6 percent). These five states comprise 44.7 percent of all incidents reported in the United States.
Hawaii was, again, the only state that did not participate in reporting hate crime statistics to the FBI. Arkansas participated but affirmatively reported no hate crime for 2002.
Note: Further analysis of this data will be possible when the FBI publishes its annual jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction breakdown of state, local, and college reporting, expected in early November.
Michael Lieberman, Washington Counsel and Director, Civil Rights Policy Planning Center, Anti-Defamation League, contributed to this story.
