F.B.I. Releases Report on Hate Crimes Statistics

There has been much discussion among Christian bloggers in recent months concerning hate crimes legislation.  On October 28, 2009, President Obama signed into law the Matthew Shepard Act which expands federal hate crime protections to include crimes motivated by a victim’s actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and disability.  Prior to the Matthew Shepard Act, federal hate crime legislation covered crimes motivated on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity and gender.

This past Monday the FBI released their annual report on Hate Crime Statistics (2008).

The press release is here.

An analysis of the 7,780 single-bias incidents revealed that 51.3 percent were motivated by a racial bias, 19.5 percent were motivated by a religious bias, 16.7 percent were motivated by a sexual orientation bias, and 11.5 percent were motivated by an ethnicity/national origin bias. One percent involved a bias against a disability.

The complete break-down on Incidents and Offenses is here.

Here are a few interesting findings:

Of the 7,780 single-bias incidents reported in 2008:

• 51.3 percent were racially motivated.
• 19.5 percent were motivated by religious bias.
• 16.7 percent stemmed from sexual-orientation bias.
• 11.5 percent resulted from ethnicity/national origin bias.

Of the single-bias incidents, 1,617 offenses were committed based on sexual-orientation bias. Of these offenses:

• 58.6 percent were the result of anti-male homosexual bias.
• 25.7 percent were motivated by anti-homosexual bias.
• 12.0 percent were prompted by anti-female homosexual bias.
• 2.0 percent were the result of anti-heterosexual bias.
• 1.7 percent were motivated by anti-bisexual bias. (Based on Table 1.)

There were 1,606 hate crime offenses motivated by religious bias in 2008. A breakdown of these offenses shows:

• 65.7 percent were anti-Jewish.
• 13.2 percent were anti-other religion.
• 7.7 percent were anti-Islamic.
• 4.7 percent were anti-Catholic.
• 4.2 percent were anti-multiple religions, group.
• 3.7 percent were anti-Protestant.
• 0.9 percent were anti-Atheism/Agnosticism/etc. (Based on Table 1.)

In 2008, law enforcement agencies reported that 4,704 offenses among single-bias hate crime incidents were racially motivated. Of these offenses:

• 72.6 percent were motivated by anti-black bias.
• 17.3 percent stemmed from anti-white bias.
• 5.5 percent were a result of bias against groups of individuals consisting of more than one race (anti-multiple races, group).
• 3.4 percent resulted from anti-Asian/Pacific Islander bias.
• 1.3 percent were motivated by anti-American Indian/Alaskan Native bias. (Based on Table 1.)

The Anti-Defamation League put out a press release in response to the FBI’s annual report.