Highlights
An overview of the two principal sources of hate crime statistics offered by the US Department of Justice.
The source you use will provide significantly different answers. On average, U.S. residents experienced approximately 246,900 hate crime victimizations each year per the National Crime Victimization Survey versus 11,634 reported by the FBI in 2022.
Author
Leonard Adam Sipes, Jr.
Retired federal senior spokesperson. Former Senior Specialist for Crime Prevention and Crime Statistics for the Department of Justice’s clearinghouse. Former Director of Information Services, National Crime Prevention Council. Former Adjunct Associate Professor of Criminology and Public Affairs-University of Maryland, University College. Former police officer.
Former advisor to presidential and gubernatorial campaigns. Former advisor to the “McGruff-Take a Bite Out of Crime” national media campaign. Produced successful state anti-crime media campaigns.
Thirty-five years of directing award-winning (50+) public relations for national and state criminal justice agencies. Interviewed thousands of times by every national news outlet, often with a focus on crime statistics and research. Created the first state and federal podcasting series. Produced a unique and emulated style of government proactive public relations.
Certificate of Advanced Study-The Johns Hopkins University.
Author of ”Success With The Media: Everything You Need To Survive Reporters and Your Organization” available at Amazon and additional booksellers.
Sign up for notice of new articles on the front page of this site.
Quotes
All quotes are edited for brevity.
Overview Of Crime Data
There is a comprehensive overview of crime data from this site, see Violent and Property Crime Rates In The U.S.
Over 11,634 hate crime incidents were reported in 2022, compared with 10,840 the previous year per the FBI.
2022 is the latest official report from the FBI.
Article
There are two primary sources of information on hate crimes, those reported yearly to law enforcement recorded by the FBI, and multi-year hate crimes summations by the Bureau of Justice Statistics of the US Department of Justice using the National Crime Victimization Survey.
The Bureau of Justice Statistics, via email, does not have a future date for their next hate crime report.
The FBI offers yearly hate crime data. The numbers for 2022 are below. The Bureau of Justice Statistics does not offer yearly hate crime numbers but summarizes huge data sets to create a multi-year analysis.
The FBI records a small percentage of hate crimes in the US. Yet media reports almost exclusively use vastly underreported FBI data which can lead to inaccuracies and a poor understanding of hate crimes in America.
For example, there are 333 million US residents. If you accept the 11,634 hate crime incidents as reported by the FBI, it’s as if hate crimes do not exist in any meaningful way per the numbers.
As repulsive as hate crimes are, the FBI data vastly underreports the problem. Ninety-nine of gender bias hate events were anti-female. There are 168 million females in the US and only 99 were victims of gender bias hate?
As someone who has done multiple articles and fact sheets on crime for decades, I usually summarize findings as a courtesy to my readers. But the hate crime issue is so contentious that I will let the numbers speak for themselves.
National Public Radio: “Researchers Say The FBI’s Statistics On Hate Crimes Across The Country Are Flawed.”
“…..some researchers cast doubt on the FBI’s ability to capture the true extent of hate crime in the United States…”
“People generally don’t report crimes to the police. And for hate crimes, a lot of victims might not know they’re a victim of a hate crime,” says Jacob Kaplan, a researcher at Princeton’s School of Public and International Affairs. “So even if 100% of agencies reported every hate crime they had and tried to really investigate everything, perceived hate crime, you’re still going to be missing out on a potentially extremely large number of victims.”
“Researchers cite the gulf between the FBI’s hate crime statistics compared to other data sets, such as the National Crime Victimization Survey reported by the Bureau of Justice Statistics.”
“There’s 200,000 to 300,000 hate crime incidents in a given year and the FBI data records less than 10,000 of them…,” “Estimates from the National Crime Victimization Survey suggest that 40 to 50% of all hate crimes go unreported to police.” (Editor’s note,11,634 hate crime incidents reported to the FBI and 247,000 yearly hate crime incidents per the Bureau of Justice Statistics to not equate to 40 to 50 percent of hate crimes being unreported).
So in essence, you can choose to use FBI figures to discuss or analyze hate crimes while knowing that you are looking at a small percentage of actual events “or” you can use the numbers from the Bureau of Justice Statistics and get a far more comprehensive overview of hate crimes.
Because Bureau of Justice Statistics data is so comprehensive and the numbers so large, they are considered definitive regardless of the crime examined.
The data you choose will give you very different results.
FBI-Incidents And Offenses-Released In The Fall Of 2023 For Calendar Year 2022
The FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program collects data about both single-bias and multiple-bias hate crimes. For each offense type reported, law enforcement must indicate at least one bias motivation. A single-bias incident is defined as an incident in which one or more offense types are motivated by the same bias. As of 2013, a multiple-bias incident is defined as an incident in which one or more offense types are motivated by two or more biases.
Overview (direct quotes)
In 2022, 14,631 law enforcement agencies participated in the Hate Crime Statistics Data Collection. Of these agencies, 3,109 reported (emphasis added) 11,634 hate crime incidents involving 13,337 offenses.
Editor’s note, there are close to 19,000 law enforcement agencies in the US
There were 11,288 single-bias incidents that involved 12,913 offenses, 13,278 victims, and 10,046 known offenders.
The 346 multiple-bias incidents reported in 2022 involved 424 offenses, 433 victims, and 253 known offenders.
Single-Bias Incidents
Analysis of the 11,288 single-bias incidents reported in 2022 revealed that:
58.2 percent were motivated by a race/ethnicity/ancestry bias.
18.1 percent were prompted by religious bias.
17.2 percent resulted from sexual-orientation bias.
4.2 percent were motivated by gender-identity bias.
1.5 percent were prompted by disability bias.
0.8 percent (95 incidents) were motivated by gender bias.
Offenses By Bias Motivation Within Incidents
Of the 12,913 single-bias hate crime offenses reported in the above incidents:
59.5 percent stemmed from a race/ethnicity/ancestry bias.
17.1 percent resulted from sexual-orientation bias.
17.0 percent were motivated by religious bias.
4.0 percent stemmed from gender-identity bias.
1.5 percent resulted from bias against disabilities.
0.9 percent (121 offenses) were prompted by gender bias.
Race/Ethnicity/Ancestry Bias
In 2022, law enforcement agencies reported that 7,677 single-bias hate crime offenses were motivated by race/ethnicity/ancestry. Of these offenses:
52.1 percent were motivated by anti-Black or African American bias.
14.4 percent stemmed from anti-White bias.
12.2 percent were classified as anti-Hispanic or Latino bias.
7.5 percent resulted from anti-Asian bias.
3.5 percent were a result of bias against groups of individuals consisting of more than one race (anti-multiple races, group).
2.7 percent were motivated by anti-American Indian or Alaska Native bias.
1.4 percent were classified as anti-Arab bias.
0.4 percent (29 offenses) were motivated by bias of anti-Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander.
5.8 percent were the result of an anti-Other Race/Ethnicity/Ancestry bias.
Sexual-Orientation Bias
In 2022, law enforcement agencies reported 2,210 single-bias hate crime offenses based on sexual-orientation bias. Of these offenses:
54.0 percent were classified as anti-gay (male) bias.
33.7 percent were prompted by anti-lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (mixedgroup) bias.
9.5 percent were classified as anti-lesbian bias.
1.7 percent were classified as anti-bisexual bias.
1.0 percent were the result of anti-heterosexual bias.
Religious Bias
Hate crimes motivated by religious bias accounted for 2,199 single-bias offenses reported by law enforcement. A breakdown of the bias motivation of religious-biased offenses showed:
54.3 percent were anti-Jewish.
8.7 percent were anti-Sikh.
8.1 percent were anti-Islamic (Muslim).
5.0 percent were anti-Other Christian.
5.0 percent were anti-Catholic.
3.8 percent were anti-Eastern Orthodox (Russian, Greek, Other).
3.1 percent were anti-Protestant.
2.2 percent were anti-multiple religions, group.
1.5 percent were anti-Church of Jesus Christ.
1.3 percent were anti-Hindu.
1.0 percent were anti-Buddhist.
0.7 percent (16 offenses) were anti-Atheism/Agnosticism/etc.
0.6 percent (14 offenses) were anti-Jehovah’s Witness.
4.5 percent were anti-other (unspecified) religion.
Gender-Identity Bias
Of the single-bias incidents, 515 offenses were a result of gender-identity bias. Of these offenses:
374 were anti-transgender.
141 were anti-gender non-conforming.
Disability Bias
There were 191 reported single-bias hate crime offenses committed based on disability bias. Of these:
108 offenses were classified as anti-mental disability.
83 offenses were reported as anti-physical disability.
Gender Bias
There were 121 single-bias offenses of gender bias reported in 2022. Of these:
99 were anti-female.
22 were anti-male.
By Offense Types
Of the 13,337 reported hate crime offenses in 2022:
30.2 percent were intimidation.
23.3 percent were simple assault.
23.2 percent were destruction/damage/vandalism.
11.7 percent were aggravated assault.
The remaining offenses included additional crimes against persons, property, and society.
Offenses By Crime Category
Among the 13,337 hate crime offenses reported:
66.1 percent were crimes against persons.
31.8 percent were crimes against property.
The remaining offenses were crimes against society.
Crimes Against Persons
Law enforcement reported 8,810 hate crime offenses as crimes against persons. By offense type:
45.7 percent were intimidation.
35.3 percent were simple assault.
17.7 percent were aggravated assault.
0.6 percent consisted of 33 murders and 21 rapes.
Less than 1 tenth of 1 percent (2 offenses) were human trafficking.
0.7 percent (59 offenses) involved the offense category other.
Crimes Against Property
Most of the 4,245 hate crime offenses that were crimes against property (72.7 percent) were acts of destruction/damage/vandalism.
The remaining 27.3 percent of crimes against property consisted of robbery, burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, arson, and other crimes.
Crimes Against Society
There were 282 offenses defined as crimes against society (e.g., drug or narcotic offenses or prostitution).
By Victim Type
When considering the 13,337 hate crime offenses and their targeted victims:
81.3 percent were directed at individuals.
5.9 percent were against businesses or financial institutions.
4.0 percent were against government entities.
2.2 percent were against religious organizations.
2.1 percent were against society/public.
The remaining 4.5 percent were directed at other/unknown/multiple victim types.
Chart (click to enlarge)
Bureau Of Justice Statistics Hate Crime Reports-Released In 2021 And 2022
The Bureau of Justice Statistics relies on surveys (similar to the US Census) rather than crimes reported to law enforcement. Both the BJS and the FBI are US Department of Justice Agencies. The great majority of crimes in the US are not reported to law enforcement thus the need for a survey.
The “rate” of hate crimes remains mostly flat (see the chart below and a prior report).
On average, U.S. residents experienced approximately 246,900 hate crime victimizations each year between 2005 and 2019 (Editor’s note, versus 11,634 reported by the FBI in 2022).
The number of hate crimes ranged from about 173,600 to 305,390 during this period.
During the five-year aggregate period of 2015-19, the majority of hate crimes involved simple assault (62%) and aggravated assault (18%).
During 2015-19, approximately 42% of violent hate crime victimizations were not reported to police.
The most common reason that victims gave for not reporting to police was that the victimization was handled another way, such as privately or through a non-law enforcement official.
During 2015-19, an estimated 59% of violent hate crime victimizations reported by victims were motivated by bias against their race, ethnicity, or national origin.
Source
Bureau Of Justice Statistics Chart-Victims And Offenders 2015-2019
“During 2015-19, there were a total of 944,570 incidents of violent hate crime involving victims age 12 or older. The share of victims in violent hate crime incidents who were female was not significantly different from the share of females in the U.S. population of persons age 12 or older.”
“The portion of males among violent hate crime victims was also similar compared to the portion of males in the population. However, according to victim reports, males were offenders in a higher percentage (72%) of violent hate crime incidents during 2015-19 than their share of the U.S. population (49%). Females were reported to be offenders in a lower percentage of violent hate crime incidents (20%) than their population share (51%). Victims also reported that 8% of violent hate crime incidents involved both male and female offenders.”
“During 2015-19, the percentage of violent hate crime incidents involving white victims (53%) was lower than the portion of the population that was white (63%). Similarly, the percentage of violent hate crime incidents in which white persons were perceived to be offenders (45%) was lower than their share of the population.”
“The percentage of violent hate crime incidents that involved black victims (14%) was similar to the share of the population for black persons (12%). Thirty-three percent of violent hate crime incidents involved offenders perceived by the victim to be black, which was higher than the share of the population that was black.”
“Hispanic persons were victims in a higher percentage of violent hate crime incidents (25%) than the percentage of the population that was Hispanic (17%). The percentage of offenders believed to be Hispanic was statistically similar (15%) to the share of the population that was Hispanic.”
Bureau Of Justice Statistics-Hate Crime Rates Over Time
The total (left) includes the number of overall crime victimizations. “On average, U.S. residents experienced approximately 246,900 hate crime victimizations each year between 2005 and 2019. The number of hate crimes ranged from about 173,600 to 305,390 during this period (table above). The number of total, violent, and property hate crime victimizations did not change significantly from 2005 to 2019.”
Editor’s note. Hate crimes numerically increased from 173,600 in 2016 to 305,390 in 2019 so I do not understand the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ assertion that the number of hate crimes did not increase. However, rates and percentages of hate crimes show stability.
Conclusions
Any hate crime is repulsive. Regardless of numbers or rates, hate crimes should be universally condemned. One can argue rates and numbers and who’s affected but it’s meaningless to the victims.
My Jewish friends are being harassed and I’m appalled. From NBC News, Columbia holds classes virtually as Jewish leaders warn about safety amid pro-Palestinian protests. Jews have the highest number of religious hate crimes per the FBI. The same holds for a wide array of hate directed towards African Americans, women, or anyone else.
The FBI is reporting 11,634 hate crime incidents compared to the Bureau of Justice Statistics 247,000 yearly figure. The difference is so large that it makes our understanding of the problem complex.
For policy matters, the data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics via a survey is more impactful based on much larger numbers to analyze. Methodology 101, the larger the numbers, the more accurate the results.
Readers need to understand the dynamics of hate crime reports (i.e., reasons for not reporting incidents–hate crimes committed by someone the victim knows). Numbers can be meaningless without context. Bias statements or actions between friends or associates will likely be substantially different compared to stranger-to-stranger violence.
Settling disputes between people who know each other is often seen as a private matter that does not require police intervention.
According to the Bureau Of Justice Statistics, hate crime offenders were most likely to be men (72%) and strangers (56%), which means that close to half of the victims knew their offenders (Editor’s note, for context, most violent crime happens between people who know each other).
Based on the two federal sources, one can make any claim they want as to increases (or lack of increases), who’s affected, who commits hate crimes and victimization based on groups.
Hate Crime Offenders
A study on hate crime offenders is available.
Privacy Policy
We do not collect your personal information. See our privacy policy at “About This Site.”
See More
See more articles on crime and justice at Crime in America.
Most Dangerous Cities/States/Countries at Most Dangerous Cities.
US Crime Rates at Nationwide Crime Rates.
National Offender Recidivism Rates at Offender Recidivism.
The Crime in America.Net RSS feed (https://crimeinamerica.net/?feed=rss2) provides subscribers with a means to stay informed about the latest news, publications, and other announcements from the site.