THUNDER BAY – The incidents of online hate crime continue. The FBI released Hate Crime Statistics, 2013, the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program’s first publication to present data collected under the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crime Prevention Act of 2009. Accordingly, the bias categories of gender (male and female) and gender identity (transgender and gender nonconforming) have been added to the other bias categories of race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, and ethnicity.
Other new aspects of the report include the presentation of age categories to indicate whether hate crimes were committed by or directed toward juveniles. In addition, the data for the 2013 report were collected and published in accordance with the U.S. Government, Office of Management and Budget’s revised categories for race and ethnicity, as well as the FBI UCR Program’s revised definition of rape in the Summary Reporting System.
Hate Crime Statistics, 2013 includes data about the offenses, victims, offenders, and locations of the bias-motivated incidents reported by law enforcement agencies throughout the nation. However, the UCR Program does not estimate offenses for the jurisdictions of agencies that do not submit reports. Highlights of Hate Crime Statistics, 2013 follow.
- Law enforcement agencies reported 5,928 criminal incidents involving 6,933 offenses as being motivated by a bias toward a particular race, gender, gender identity, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or ethnicity in 2013.
- There were 5,922 single-bias incidents involving 7,230 victims. A percent distribution of victims by bias type showed that 49.3 percent of victims were targeted because of the offenders’ racial bias, 20.2 percent were victimized because of the offenders’ sexual-orientation bias, 16.9 percent were targeted because of the offenders’ religious bias, and 11.4 percent were victimized due to ethnicity bias. Victims targeted because of the offenders’ bias against disabilities accounted for 1.4 percent of victims of single-bias incidents; gender identity, 0.5 percent; and gender, 0.4 percent.
- There were 6 multiple-bias hate crime incidents involving 12 victims.
- Of the 4,430 hate crime offenses classified as crimes against persons in 2013, intimidation accounted for 43.5 percent, simple assault accounted for 38.8 percent, and aggravated assault for 16.6 percent. Five murders and 21 rapes (15 from agencies that collected data using the revised rape definition and 6 from agencies that used the legacy definition) were reported as hate crimes.
- Beginning with the 2013 data collection, the UCR Program’s revised definition of rape is “Penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.”
- The legacy UCR definition of rape is “The carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will.”
- There were 2,424 hate crime offenses classified as crimes against property. The majority of these (73.6 percent) were acts of destruction/damage/vandalism. Robbery, burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, arson, and other offenses accounted for the remaining 26.4 percent of crimes against property.
- In the UCR Program, the term known offender does not imply that the suspect’s identity is known; rather, the term indicates that some aspect of the suspect was identified, thus distinguishing the suspect from an unknown offender. Law enforcement agencies specify the number of offenders and, when possible, the race of the offender or offenders as a group. Beginning in 2013, law enforcement officers could also report whether suspects were juveniles or adults, as well as the suspect’s ethnicity when possible.
- Of the 5,814 known offenders, 52.4 percent were white, and 24.3 percent were black or African American. The race was unknown for 14.8 percent. Other races accounted for the remaining known offenders: 0.8 percent were American Indian or Alaska Native; 0.7 percent were Asian; 0.1 percent were Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander; and 7.0 percent were of a group of multiple races.
- Of the 2,527 offenders for whom ages were known, 68.0 percent were 18 years of age or older.
- Of the 368 offenders for whom ethnicity was reported, 54.1 percent were not Hispanic or Latino, 6.3 percent were in a group of multiple ethnicities, and 3.3 percent were Hispanic or Latino. Ethnicity was unknown for 36.4 percent of these offenders.
- Most hate crime incidents (31.5 percent) occurred in or near residences/homes. More than 18 percent (18.1) occurred on highways/roads/alleys/streets/sidewalks; 8.3 percent occurred at schools/colleges; 5.7 percent happened at parking/drop lots/garages; and 3.5 percent took place in churches/synagogues/temples/mosques. The location was considered other/unknown for 13.2 percent of hate crime incidents. The remainder of hate crime incidents took place at other specified or multiple locations.
In Canada, Statistics Canada reports that, “In 2012, police reported 1,414 criminal incidents motivated by hate in Canada, 82 more incidents than in 2011. These hate crimes represented 4.1 incidents per 100,000 population”. The 2013 figures for Canada are not out yet. “In 2012, about half of all hate crimes (704 incidents, or 51%) were motivated by hatred toward a race or ethnicity such as Black, Asian, Arab or Aboriginal populations. Another 419 incidents, or 30%, were motivated by hatred towards a particular religion, including hate crimes targeting Jewish, Muslim, Catholic and other religions”.
The Canadian figures show that for “An additional 13% (185 incidents) were motivated by sexual orientation, while the remaining 6% of hate crimes were motivated by language, mental or physical disability, sex, age or some other characteristic (such as occupation or political beliefs)”.
The figures for Canada, contrasting the United States show that reported hate crimes in Canada are surprisingly high. In 2012 in Canada there were 1,414 incidents. In the United States there were 5,928 incidents.
The population of Canada, 35 million people compared to the United States with 316 million people has a far greater per capita number of hate crimes reported. The United States has almost nine times our population. That Canada has almost 25% the number of reported hate crimes, shows there is a serious issue in Canada.
