According to the FBI’s definition, hate crimes are those motivated by prejudice and committed against victims based on their race, color, religion or national origin, as well as on biases of actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity, gender or disability. Some 8,559 such incidents were reported in 2019, and over half of them were cases of assault or intimidation. The national average of hate crimes per 100,000 people was 2.6. The state with the highest level was Washington at 8.7.
A more recent look at the hate crimes problem is an unpublished study by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino (researchers Brian Levin, Analisa Venolia and Kiana Perst). Commenting on this hate crimes research, Axios wrote: “Reports of hate crimes skyrocketed in 2021 in more than a dozen of America’s largest cities, with a record number of Asian Americans saying they were targeted, according to a preliminary analysis of the data.”
Of the 14 cities reviewed in the study, hate crimes were up 45.6% from the previous year to 2,125. Note that not all police departments reported information for the entire period measured. The study pointed out that Phoenix, Sacramento and Tampa were not included in the tabulations.
In particular, anti-Asian hate crimes rose by 342% in 2021, compared to the same period a year ago. The figures for Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco broke records.
In most of the cities covered, African Americans were the largest group targeted. However, in New York City, the largest targeted group was Jews. In Chicago, it was gay males.
The city with the most hate crimes in 2021 was Los Angeles, up 71% to 615. New York City was second with 538, up 96%. The figures are notable because New York City is so much larger than Los Angeles. According to the Census Bureau, the populations of New York and Los Angeles are 8.42 million and 3.97 million, respectively.
Click here to see which state has the most hate groups.
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