Hate Crimes

Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Uniform Crime Report, Hate Crime Statistics, 1997, http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/hc97all.pdf

• In 1998, the FBI received 7,755 reports of hate crime incidents. Of these, over 68% were crimes against persons, and 31%were crimes against property. Intimidation accounted for 55% of the crimes against persons, followed by simple assault (27%) and aggravated assault (17%).
  

• Of the 7,755 incidents reported in 1998, 56% were motivated by racial bias. These incidents involved 5,514 victims and 4,626 known offenders who were charged with 5,360 separate offenses. Offenses against African Americans constituted 67% of all race-based hate crimes, followed by offenses against whites (18%), Asians/Pacific Islanders (7%), and American Indians/Alaskan Natives (1%).
  

• Of all known hate crime offenders in 1998, 66% were white, 17% were African-American, 5% were multiracial persons, 2% were Asian/Pacific Islander, and less than 1% were American Indian/Alaskan Native.
  

• In 1997, 61% of anti-black offenses were committed by whites, 2% by other African Americans, 2% by multi-racial offenders, and less than 1% by both Asians/Pacific Islanders and American Indians/Alaskan Natives. In 1997, 84% of race-based hate crimes committed by African Americans were against whites, 7% were against other African Americans, 5% were against Asians/Pacific Islanders, 4% were against multiracial persons, and less than 1% were against Indians/Alaskan Natives.

* A hate crime, also known as a bias crime, is a criminal offense committed against a person, property, or society which is motivated, in whole or in part, by the offender's bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or ethnicity/national origin.

Source: Fighting Hate Across the Nation, Leadership Conference Education Fund, Hate Crime Statistics, http://www.civilrights.org/lcef/hcpc/stats/overtime.html

• Between 1991 and 1996, the total number of hate crime incidents reported nearly doubled, from 4,558 to 8,759. However, between 1996 and 1998 hate crimes decreased 11% to 7,755 for a net increase of 70% between 1991 and 1998.
  

• Between 1991 and 1998, the percent of hate crimes against African Americans was lowest in 1992 (34.4% of all race-based hate crimes) and highest in 1996 (41.7%). Overall, the percentage of anti-black hate crimes increased from 35.5% in 1991 to 38.7% in 1998. In the same period, anti-white hate crimes decreased steadily as a percent of all hate crimes from 20.3% in 1992 to 10.7% in 1998, after growing between 1991 and 1992 by nearly 2 percentage points.

• African Americans represented 17% of all hate crime offenders in 1991. This jumped to 41% of all offenders in 1992, the year of the civil unrest in Los Angeles, and then steadily decreased back to 17% in 1998. The percentage of hate crime offenders who were white nearly doubled over the period, from 36.8% in 1991 to 66.4% in 1998.

References

Leadership Conference Education Fund, Fighting Hate Across the Nation, Hate Crime Statistics 1991-1995. http://www.civilrights.org/lcef/hcpc/stats/overtime.html

U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Criminal Justice Information Services Division. Hate Crime Statistics, 1996. http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/hate96.pdf

U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Criminal Justice Information Services Division. Hate Crime Statistics, 1997. http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/hc97all.pdf

U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Criminal Justice Information Services Division. Crime in the United States - 1998. http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/Cius_98/98crime/98cius16.pdf

Prepared by Roderick Harrison and Dania Frank for the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. October 1999