We have no way of knowing how many hate crimes are perpetrated. The FBI has collected and published statistics on hate crimes reported to it since 1991. Some FBI data are shown on the charts above and on the next page. We see on the first chart the number of law enforcement agencies that provided hate-crime data and the number of hate crimes reported. More of the 16,000 agencies that participate in the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports voluntarily submitted data to the Hate Crime Data Collection Program in 2000 than in 1991 (11,690, up from 2,771 in 1991). Of the 11,690 agencies reporting in 2000,16.2% reported at least one hate crime in their jurisdictions. The number of hate crimes reported ranged from a low of 4,558 to a high of 8,759. The FBI cautions that hate crimes are underreported by both victims and police.
The FBI gives reasons for requesting the data: "The statistics may assist law enforcement agencies in addressing potentially problematic issues for their particular locales or provide lawmakers with justification for certain legislation. The data may supply the media with credible information or simply show hate crime victims that they are not alone." Law enforcement agencies providing hate-crime data to the FBI must investigate crimes with sufficient zeal to be able to state with certainty the perpetrator's motivation. How does this play out in the real world? Consider Florida, one of 19 states that mandate the reporting of hate crimes. Many of the state's 400 police agencies do not report hate crimes, for reasons ranging from failure to recognize hate motivation to ignorance of the law to unwillingness to besmirch their community's image.
Motivation for Hate Crimes
The chart shows what motivated the hate crimes reported to the FBI. Racial bias was the major motivator, followed in order by religious, sexual orientation, and ethnicity biases. The FBI defines hate crimes as "those offenses motivated in part or singularly by personal prejudice against others because of a diversity — race, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity/national origin, or disability." If women were included, the incidence of hate crimes would be higher.
Most hate crimes are directed against individuals (about 30% involve property crimes). In 2001 the U.S. Department of Justice released an analysis of 3,000 of the nearly 24,000 hate crimes reported from 1997-1999. The report reveals that hate crimes are much more likely than other crimes to be violent, that a disproportionately high percentage of both victims and perpetrators are under age 25, and that only 20% of crimes result in an arrest.
Hate crimes are not necessarily born of ignorance. Since 1992 the Department of Education has collected data on hate crimes on college campuses, the third most common venue. According to the American Psychological Association, most perpetrators of hate crimes are "otherwise law-abiding young people" sometimes emboldened by alcohol and drugs and convinced that attacks on certain groups of people are sanctioned by our society. Both the federal and state governments have brought suit against college students for hate crimes involving threats, bombings, assaults, and derogatory e-mail.
Events like recessions or terrorist attacks can cause spikes in hate crimes. At the time this was written, FBI data on hate crimes in 2001 were not ready, but one must wonder what effect September 11 had on hate crimes motivated by ethnicity. Research revealed that in Montana, reported hate crimes declined to 13 in 2001 from 20 the year before, but California reported a 15.5% rise in hate crimes over 2000, sparked by anti-Arab sentiment and reversing a downward trend. According to Congressman John Conyers, Jr., Illinois had five times more hates crimes against people of Arab descent in 2001 than in 2000. The Council on American-Islamic Relations received more than 300 reports of harassment and abuse against Muslims and southeast Asians in the two-day period September 12-14.
Racial Bias
Sources: Charts: FBI, Hate Crime Statistics, Uniform Crime Reports, 1992-2000. Andres Viglucci, "Despite drop in numbers, authorities still concerned about hate crime," Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service, November 23, 2001, pK1315. "ADL Calls New Justice Department Report on Hate Crimes 'A Valuable Look at Bias,'" Anti-Defamation League Press Release, October 1, 2001, http://www.adl.org/. "Anti-Arab Sentiment Fuels Hate-Crime Rise," Los Angeles Times, September 19, 2002, pB-10. "Hate Crimes Today: An Age-Old Foe In Modern Dress," American Psychological Association, http://www.apa.org/pubinfo/hate/. Conyers Urges Republican Leadership to Bring Hate Crimes Bill to the Floor, Congressman John Conyers, Jr., press release, September 25, 2002, http://www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/hatecrimesdischargepr92502.pdf. U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance, Hate Crimes on Campus, NCJ 187249, October 2001, http://www.campussafety.org/schools/187249.pdf.
1 Nonviolent offenses such as receiving stolen property and vandalism.
2 Felonies involve violence, drugs, weapons, or property (motor vehicle theft, for example).
3 Includes police protection, judicial and legal, and corrections. Data for 1996 were not reported.
4 Larceny/theft is defined by the FBI as "the unlawful taking, carrying, leading, or riding away of property from the possession or constructive possession of another. It includes crimes such as shoplifting, pocket-picking, purse-snatching, thefts from motor vehicles, thefts of motor vehicle parts and accessories, bicycle thefts, etc., in which no use of force, violence, or fraud occurs."
5 We might have had you arrested for a drug abuse violation — more people are arrested for this than for any other offense, but FBI data for crimes cleared by arrests are only available for crime index crimes.
6 A civil case usually involves a dispute "over the rights and duties that individuals and organizations legally owe to each other" (Nolo.com).
7 Courts of general jurisdiction have authority (granted by federal and state laws) to decide cases of many different types.
8 The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) initiated the biennial National Pretrial Reporting Program (NPRP), from which these data came, in February 1998. NPRP collects demographic, criminal history, pretrial processing, adjudication, and sentencing information on felony defendants in state courts of the nation's 75 most populous counties. The NPRP data do not include defendants charged with federal crimes.
9 See Pamela Casey, "Defining Optimal Court Performance: The Trial Court Performance Standards," retrieved October 22, 2002, from
10 According to a study by the National Center for State Courts, in 1999 Leon County had the highest number of felony filings per 1,000 population (21.8) of all major urban areas in the country.
11 A person could use the insanity defense if he could prove that "by reason of duress of mental disease he had so far lost the power to choose between right and wrong, and to avoid doing the act in question, as that his free agency was at the time destroyed" (an irresistible impulse).
12 The American Law Institute (A.L.I.) was formed in 1923 to "promote the clarification and simplification of the law." Every state has its own criminal (penal) codes. The Model Penal Code established by A.L.I. in 1962 sought to reconcile the codes into one "American criminal code" (Robinson; see Source notes). The A.L.I. language stated that a defendant is not responsible for a criminal offense if "at the time of such conduct as a result of a mental disease or defect, he lacks substantial capacity either to appreciate the criminality of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law."
13 These states restrict the admission of psychiatric evidence to the issue of mens rea (criminal intent), thus abolishing insanity as a separate affirmative defense (that is, a defense raised by the defendant, who then carries the burden of proving it).
14 JAMA Journal of the American Medical Association (see Source notes).
15 The outcome might have been different if Yates had a bench trial (without a jury). According to Miller (see Source notes), when judges rule on the issue of insanity, they tend to reject the plea in fewer than 50% of cases, while juries reject the plea 85% of the time. Barry Wall, M.D., President of the Rhode Island Psychiatric Society, says judges are well aware that many people are in jail because society has failed to provide them with adequate mental health treatment. Juries, on the other hand, are not so knowledgeable or sympathetic.
16 Expenditures presented are not adjusted for inflation. Expenditures are for public defense, which includes legal counsel and representation in either criminal or civil proceedings as provided by public defenders and other government programs.
17 The bombing occurred in 1995. Nichols was tried in Federal court and found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and conspiracy. The Oklahoma City district attorney is prosecuting Nichols on state murder charges that could bring the death penalty.
18 The Anti-Defamation League was formed in 1913 "to expose and combat the purveyors of hatred in our midst." The ADL and groups such as the National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force collect hate crime data. Their data typically show a higher prevalence of hate crime than do the federal statistics mandated by 1990 legislation, some of which are presented in our next panel.
19 As of September 2001, according to http://www.religioustolerance.org.
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