FBI Releases 2019 Hate Crimes Report
Hate crimes rose to the highest level in more than a decade and hate-motivated killings reached a record high since reporting began in the 1990s.Hate crimes rose to the highest level in more than a decade and hate-motivated killings reached a record high since reporting began in the 1990s.
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On Nov. 16, the FBI released its annual report on hate crimes in the United States. According to the report, in 2019, hate crimes rose to the highest level in more than a decade. Killings motivated by hate reached their highest annual total since the FBI began reporting bias-motivated incidents in the 1990s.
The rise in bias-motivated murders—51 in 2019—was driven largely by the mass shooting at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, that targeted Hispanics and killed 22 people.
The report tallies a total of 7,314 incidents involving 8,552 victims, a nearly three percent increase in total incidents from 2018. Roughly 58 percent of all victims were targets of what the Bureau considers “race/ethnicity/ancestry” bias, roughly 20 percent of religious bias, roughly 17 percent of sexual orientation bias and around six percent victims of gender identity, disability or gender bias. Offenses range from crimes against property, such as vandalism and destruction, to crimes against persons, including intimidation, assault and murder.
Notably, the data shows a significant increase in anti-Semitic hate crimes, which rose 14 percent from 835 incidents in 2018 to 953 incidents in 2019. Hate crimes targeting Hispanics and Latinos increased almost nine percent from 2018.
The data comes from reporting to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program from 15,588 law enforcement agencies. Although the FBI’s report is the most comprehensive reporting of hate crimes, some experts say the data undercounts hate crimes because reporting is not mandatory and hate crimes often go unreported.
You can find the full statistics here and a summary below:
