Hate Crimes Breaking US Records

Hate crimes in the United States have reached their highest level in more than a decade, according to an FBI report released Monday, November 16. Federal officials also recorded the highest number of hate murders since the FBI began collecting this data in the early 1990s. Details told the publication ABC News.

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The report says there were 2019 hate murders in 51, including 22 who were killed by shelling of Mexicans at a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas. The suspect, according to authorities, tried to intimidate the Hispanics and force them to leave the United States.

There were 7 hate crimes last year, up from 314 the year before - figures approaching the 7 figure of 120. There were fewer such crimes between 2008 and 7. The FBI's annual report defines hate crimes as crimes motivated by bias based on race, religion or sexual orientation, or other social characteristics.

The increase in crime in 2019 may be the result of better reporting by police departments, but law enforcement officials and advocacy groups have no doubts about the actual increase in the number of hate crimes. The Department of Justice has focused on prosecuting such crimes for many years.

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The data shows religiously motivated crimes increased by almost 7%, with 953 reported crimes against Jews and Jewish institutions last year, up from 835 the year before. The FBI reported that crimes against African Americans fell slightly to 1930 from 1943 in 2018.

At the same time, the number of crimes against Hispanics rose to 527 in 2019, up from 485 in 2018. And the total number of hate crimes due to the sexual orientation of the victim remained at the same level: last year there was one less crime recorded than a year earlier.

Advocacy groups, including the Anti-Defamation League, have called on Congress and US law enforcement to improve data collection and reporting on hate crimes. Critics have long warned that the data may be incomplete, in part because it is based on voluntary rather than mandatory police reports.

Last year, only 2 of an estimated 172 law enforcement agencies nationwide reported hate crime figures to the FBI. And while the number of agencies reporting hate crimes has increased, the number of agencies participating in the program has actually decreased compared to last year. A large number of police authorities have not registered any such crime or reported it to the FBI.

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“The overall severity and damage caused by hate crimes cannot be fully measured without the FBI's full participation in the data collection process,” Anti-Defamation League President Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement.

Greenblatt also said the U.S. must "remove barriers that too often prevent people from marginalized communities—those who suffer the most from hate crimes—from reporting incidents."

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