Editor’s note: The 2016 release of the Hate Crimes Statistics report, which will contain 2015 data, will feature even more information—expanded bias types in the religion category and the added bias type of anti-Arab under the race/ethnicity/ancestry category. The collection of both types of data began in January 2015.
According to the FBI’s latest report, law enforcement agencies reported 5,479 hate crime incidents involving 6,418 offenses and 6,727 victims 2014.
The latest figures are down from 2013, when 5,928 criminal incidents involving 6,933 offenses were reported.
Hate Crime Statistics, 2014 provides information about the offenses, victims, and offenders. Among some of the highlights:
- Of the 5,462 single-bias incidents reported in 2014, 47 percent were racially motivated. Other motivators included sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, gender identity, disability, and gender.
- Of the 6,418 reported hate crime offenses, 63.1 percent were crimes against persons and 36.1 percent were crimes against property. The remaining offenses were crimes against society, like illegal drug activity or prostitution.
- The majority of the 4,048 reported crimes against persons involved intimidation (43.1 percent) and simple assault (37.4 percent).
- Most of the 2,317 hate crimes against property were acts of destruction, damage, and vandalism (73.1 percent).
- Individuals were overwhelmingly the most common victim of a single-bias hate crime, accounting for 82.4 percent of the reported 6,418 offenses. The remaining victim types were businesses, financial institutions, religious organizations, government, and society or the public.
- Also during 2014, law enforcement agencies reported 5,192 known offenders in 5,479 bias-motivated incidents. Known offender” does not imply that the suspect’s identity is known, only that some aspect of the suspect was identified by a victim or witness—such as race, ethnicity, or age.)
And while 15,494 law enforcement agencies contributed to Hate Crime Statistics report in 2014, only 1,666 agencies reported hate crimes within their jurisdiction (the remaining agencies reported zero hate crimes).
Most hate crime incidents (31.6 percent) occurred in or near residences/homes. Nearly 18 percent (17.8) occurred on highways/roads/alleys/streets/sidewalks; 8.6 percent occurred at schools/colleges; 6.3 percent happened at parking/drop lots/garages; and 3.6 percent took place in churches/synagogues/temples/mosques. The location was considered other/unknown for 11.9 percent of hate crime incidents. The remainder of hate crime incidents took place at other specified or multiple locations.