Anti-Semitism in the United States: FBI Hate Crime Statistics 2006

A hate crime, also known as a bias crime, is a criminal offense committed against a person, property, or society that is motivated, in whole or in part, by the offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or ethnicity/national origin.

- Background
- Bias-motivated Offenses
- Participation
- Law Enforcement Reports
- Incidents
- Offenses
- Victims
- Offenders
- Tables

Background

In response to mounting national concern over crimes motivated by bias, Congress enacted the Hate Crime Statistics Act of 1990. The law directed the Attorney General to collect data “about crimes that manifest evidence of prejudice based on race, religion, sexual orientation, or ethnicity.” The Attorney General delegated the responsibility for developing and implementing a hate crime data collection program to the Director of the FBI, who assigned the task to the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program. In September 1994, Congress passed the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, which amended the Hate Crime Statistics Act to include both physical and mental disabilities. The UCR Program began collecting statistics on offenses motivated by bias against physical and mental disabilities in January 1997. The Church Arson Act of 1996 mandated that hate crime data collection become a permanent part of the UCR Program.

 

Bias-motivated Offenses

Those who developed the guidelines for hate crime data collection recognized that hate crimes are not separate, distinct crimes; instead, they are traditional offenses motivated by the offender’s bias. After much consideration, the developers decided that hate crime data could be derived by capturing the additional element of bias in those offenses already being reported to the UCR Program. Attaching the collection of hate crime statistics to the established UCR data collection procedures, they concluded, would fulfill the directives of the Hate Crime Statistics Act without placing an undue additional reporting burden on law enforcement and, in time, would develop a substantial body of data about the nature and frequency of bias crimes occurring throughout the Nation. As a result, the law enforcement agencies that participate in the national hate crime program collect details about an offender’s bias motivation associated with the following offense types: murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, aggravated assault, simple assault, intimidation, robbery, burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, arson, and destruction/damage/vandalism of property. The law enforcement agencies participating in the National Incident-Based Reporting System also collect data on additional bias-motivated crimes against persons or crimes against property (e.g., fraud) and publishes these crimes as Other.

 

Participation

Law enforcement’s support

Law enforcement’s support and participation have been the most vital factors in moving the hate crime data collection effort from concept to reality. The International Association of Chiefs of Police, the National Sheriffs’ Association, the former UCR Data Providers Advisory Policy Board (which is now part of the Criminal Justice Information Services Advisory Policy Board), the International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Standards and Training, and the Association of State UCR Programs all have endorsed the UCR Program’s hate crime program. In addition to this support, thousands of law enforcement agencies nationwide make crucial contributions to the Program’s success as the officers within these agencies investigate offenses and report as known hate crimes those they determine were motivated by biases.

Agencies contributing data

Agencies that participated in the hate crime program in 2006 represented over 255 million inhabitants, or 85.2 percent of the Nation’s population, and their jurisdictions covered 49 states, the District of Columbia, and Outlying Areas (Guam).

 

Law Enforcement Reports

The national UCR Program views each hate crime as an incident, which may have multiple offenses, victims, and offenders. When aggregating the number of hate crime offenses committed against individuals, the UCR Program counts one offense for each victim. The offense types of murder, forcible rape, aggravated assault, simple assault, and intimidation are crimes against persons. When counting crimes against property, the UCR Program allots one offense for each distinct incident regardless of the number of victims. Robbery, burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, arson, and destruction/damage/vandalism comprise the offense types that the Program considers crimes against property .

Reporting agencies identified 7,330 known offenders in 7,722 bias-motivated incidents in 2006. In the Uniform Crime Reporting Program, the term known offender does not imply that the suspect’s identity is known. 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.

Known Offender's Race, 2006

Total	7,330
White	4,293
Black	1,513
American Indian/Alaskan Native	75
Asian/Pacific Islander	84
Multiple Races, Group1	421
Unknown Race	944

1 The term multiple races, group is used to describe a group of offenders comprised of individuals of varying races.

 

Incidents

The great majority of hate crime incidents involve a single bias, although the hate crime program accepts reports of multiple-bias incidents. By definition, a multiple-bias incident is one in which two or more offense types were motivated by two or more bias types. Of the 7,649 incidents reported by law enforcement agencies in 2004, 7 were multiple-bias incidents.

Law enforcement investigators found that racial prejudice motivated more than half of all the reported single-bias incidents (52.9 percent). They attributed 18.0 percent of the incidents to a religious bias, 15.7 percent to a sexual-orientation bias, and 12.7 percent to an ethnicity/national origin bias. The remaining incidents were ascribed to a disability bias.

Single-Bias Incidents

An analysis of the 7,720 single-bias incidents reported in 2006 reveals the following:

• 51.8 percent were racially motivated.
• 18.9 percent were motivated by religious bias.
• 15.5 percent resulted from sexual-orientation bias.
• 12.7 percent stemmed from ethnicity/national origin bias.
• 1.0 percent were prompted by disability bias.

Offenses by Bias Motivation within Incidents

Of the 9,076 single-bias hate crime offenses reported in the above incidents:

• 52.2 percent were motivated by racial bias.
• 17.6 percent resulted from religious bias.
• 15.6 percent were motivated by sexual-orientation bias.
• 13.6 percent were motivated by ethnicity or national origin bias.
• 1.0 percent were the consequences of biases against disability.

Racial bias

In 2006, law enforcement agencies reported that 4,737 single-bias hate crime offenses were racially motivated. Of these offenses:

• 66.2 percent were motivated by anti-black bias.
• 21.3 percent were motivated by anti-white bias.
• 6.1 percent were driven by bias against groups of individuals consisting of more than one race (anti-multiple races, group).
• 4.9 percent resulted from anti-Asian/Pacific Islander bias.
• 1.5 percent were motivated by anti-American Indian/Alaskan Native bias.

Religious bias

Hate crimes motivated by religious bias accounted for 1,597 offenses reported by law enforcement. A breakdown of the bias motivation of religious-bias offenses showed:

• 64.3 percent were anti-Jewish.
• 12.0 percent were anti-Islamic.
• 8.8 percent were anti-other religion.
• 5.5 percent were anti-multiple religions, (i.e., groups of individuals of varying religions).
• 5.1 percent were anti-Catholic.
• 3.9 percent were anti-Protestant.
• 0.5 percent were anti-Atheism/Agnosticism.

Sexual-orientation bias

In 2006, law enforcement agencies reported 1,415 hate crime offenses based on sexual- orientation bias. Of these offenses:

• 62.3 percent were classified as anti-male homosexual biased.
• 20.7 percent were classified as anti-homosexual biased.
• 13.6 percent were classified as anti-female homosexual biased.
• 2.0 percent were classified as anti-heterosexual biased.
• 1.5 percent were classified as anti-bisexual biased.

Ethnicity/national origin bias

Of the single-bias incidents, 1,233 offenses were committed based on the perceived ethnicity or national origin of the victim. Of these offenses:

• 62.4 percent were anti-Hispanic biased.
• 37.6 percent were anti-other ethnicity/national origin biased.

Disability bias

• There were 94 reported hate crime offenses committed based on disability bias.
• 74 offenses were classified as anti-mental disability.
• 20 offenses were classified as anti-physical disability.

Offenses

Offenses by Crime Category

Among the 9,080 hate crime offenses reported:

• 60.0 percent were crimes against persons.
• 39.6 percent were crimes against property.
• Approximately 0.4 percent were crimes against society.

Crimes against persons

Law enforcement reported 5,449 hate crime offenses as crimes against persons. By offense type:

• 46.0 percent were intimidation.
• 31.9 percent were simple assaults.
• 21.6 percent were aggravated assaults.
• 0.2 percent consisted of 3 murders and 6 forcible rapes.
• 0.3 percent involved the offense category other, which is collected only in the National Incident-Based Reporting System.

Crimes against property

• The majority of the 3,593 crimes against property (81.0 percent) were acts of destruction/damage/vandalism.
• The remaining 19.0 percent of crimes against property consisted of robbery, burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, arson, and other crimes.

Crimes against society

Thirty-eight offenses were crimes against society (e.g., drug or narcotic offenses or prostitution).

 

Victims

In the Uniform Crime Reporting Program, the victim of a hate crime may be an individual, a business, an institution, or society as a whole. Nationwide in 2006, law enforcement agencies reported that there were 9,652 victims of hate crimes. Of these victims, ten were victimized in two separate multiple-bias incidents.

By Bias Motivation

An analysis of data for victims of single-bias hate crime incidents showed that:

• 52.1 percent of the victims were targeted because of the offender’s bias against a race.
• 18.1 percent were victimized because of a bias against a religious belief.
• 15.3 percent were targeted because of a bias against a particular sexual orientation.
• 13.5 percent were victimized because of a bias against an ethnicity/national origin.
• 1.0 percent were targeted because of a bias against a disability.

Racial bias

Among the single-bias hate crime incidents in 2006, there were 5,020 victims of racially motivated hate crime.

• 66.4 percent were victims of an offender’s anti-black bias.
• 21.0 percent were victims of an anti-white bias.
• 4.8 percent were victims of an anti-Asian/Pacific Islander bias.
• 1.5 percent were victims of an anti-American Indian/Alaskan Native bias.
• 6.4 percent were victims of a bias against a group of individuals in which more than one race was represented (anti-multiple races, group).

Religious bias

Of the 1,750 victims of an anti-religion hate crime:

• 65.4 percent were victims of an offender’s anti-Jewish bias.
• 11.9 percent were victims of an anti-Islamic bias.
• 4.9 percent were victims of an anti-Catholic bias.
• 3.7 percent were victims of an anti-Protestant bias.
• 0.5 percent were victims of an anti-Atheist/Agnostic bias.
• 8.4 percent were victims of a bias against other religions (anti-other religion).
• 5.3 percent were victims of a bias against groups of individuals of varying religions (anti-multiple religions, group).

Sexual-orientation bias

In 2006, of the 1,472 victims targeted due to a sexual-orientation bias:

• 62.0 percent were victims of an offender’s anti-male homosexual bias.
• 20.9 percent were victims of an anti-homosexual bias.
• 13.7 percent were victims of an anti-female homosexual bias.
• 2.0 percent were victims of an anti-heterosexual bias.
• 1.4 percent were victims of an anti-bisexual bias.

Ethnicity/national origin bias

Hate crimes motivated by the offender’s bias toward a particular ethnicity/national origin were directed at 1,305 victims. Of these victims:

• 62.8 percent were targeted because of an anti-Hispanic bias.
• 37.2 percent were victimized because of a bias against other ethnicities/national origins.

Disability bias

Of the 95 victims of a hate crime due to the offender’s bias against a disability:

• 74 were targets of an anti-mental disability bias.
• 21 were victims of an anti-physical disability bias.

By Crime Category

Of the 9,652 victims of a hate crime in 2006, 56.5 percent were victims of crimes against persons and 43.2 percent were victims of crimes against property. Less than one percent were victims of crimes against society.

By Offense Type

Crimes against persons

There were 5,449 victims of hate crimes against persons in 2006. Regarding these victims and offenses:

• Three persons were murdered and six were forcibly raped.
• 46.0 percent experienced intimidation.
• 31.9 percent were victims of simple assault.
• 21.6 percent were victims of aggravated assault.
• Less than one percent (0.3) were victims of other types of offenses, which are collected only in the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS).

Crimes against property

In 2006, there were 4,165 hate crime victims of crimes against property. Of these:

• 80.4 percent were victims of destruction/damage or vandalism.
• 6.8 percent were victims of larceny-theft.
• 4.8 percent were victims of robbery.
• 4.2 percent were victims of burglary.
• 1.2 percent were victims of arson.
• 1.1 percent were victims of motor vehicle theft.
• 1.5 percent were victims of other hate crime offenses, which are collected only in the NIBRS.

Crimes against society

Thirty-eight victims of hate crimes were victims of crimes against society.

 

Offenders

Reporting agencies identified 7,330 known offenders in 7,722 bias-motivated incidents in 2006. In the Uniform Crime Reporting Program, the term known offender does not imply that the suspect’s identity is known. 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.

By Race

An analysis of available race data for the 7,330 known hate crime offenders revealed that:

• 58.6 percent were white.
• 20.6 percent were black.
• 5.7 percent were groups made up of individuals of various races (multiple races, group).
• 1.1 percent were Asian/Pacific Islander.
• 1.0 percent of known offenders were American Indian/Alaskan Native.
• 12.9 percent were unknown.

By Crime Category

Crimes against persons

Of the 5,770 known hate crime offenders who committed crimes against persons in 2006:

• 36.7 percent committed simple assault.
• 35.0 percent intimidated their victims
• 27.8 percent committed aggravated assault.
• 0.2 percent murdered or raped their victims.
• 0.3 percent committed other types of offenses, which are collected only in the National Incident-Based Reporting System.

Crimes against property

A total of 1,912 known hate crime offenders committed crimes against property in 2006. Of these offenders:

• 63.4 percent committed destruction/damage/vandalism.
• 16.3 percent committed robbery.
• 9.5 percent committed larceny-theft.
• 5.9 percent committed burglary.
• 1.6 percent committed arson.
• 0.9 percent committed motor vehicle theft.
• 2.5 percent committed other types of bias-motivated offenses.

Crimes against society

In 2006, 58 known offenders committed 38 crimes against society involving 38 victims. Crimes against society are collected only in the National Incident-Based Reporting System.

Tables

Incidents, Offenses, Victims, and Known Offenders by Bias Motivation, 2006

Bias motivation	Incidents	Offenses	Victims1	Known offenders2
Total	7,722	9,080	9,652	7,330
Single-Bias Incidents	7,720	9,076	9,642	7,324
Race:	4,000	4,737	5,020	3,957
Anti-White	890	1,008	1,054	1,074
Anti-Black	2,640	3,136	3,332	2,437
Anti-American Indian/Alaskan Native	60	72	75	72
Anti-Asian/Pacific Islander	181	230	239	181
Anti-Multiple Races, Group	229	291	320	193
Religion:	1,462	1,597	1,750	705
Anti-Jewish	967	1,027	1,144	362
Anti-Catholic	76	81	86	44
Anti-Protestant	59	62	65	35
Anti-Islamic	156	191	208	147
Anti-Other Religion	124	140	147	63
Anti-Multiple Religions, Group	73	88	92	49
Anti-Atheism/Agnosticism/etc.	7	8	8	5
Sexual Orientation:	1,195	1,415	1,472	1,380
Anti-Male Homosexual	747	881	913	914
Anti-Female Homosexual	163	192	202	154
Anti-Homosexual	238	293	307	268
Anti-Heterosexual	26	28	29	26
Anti-Bisexual	21	21	21	18
Ethnicity/National Origin:	984	1,233	1,305	1,209
Anti-Hispanic	576	770	819	802
Anti-Other Ethnicity/National Origin	408	463	486	407
Disability:	79	94	95	73
Anti-Physical	17	20	21	17
Anti-Mental	62	74	74	56
Multiple-Bias Incidents3	2	4	10	6

1 The term victim may refer to a person, business, institution, or society as a whole.

2 The term known offender does not imply that the identity of the suspect is known, but only that an attribute of the suspect has been identified, which distinguishes him/her from an unknown offender.

3 In a multiple-bias incident, two conditions must be met: (a) more than one offense type must occur in the incident and (b) at least two offense types must be motivated by different biases.

Incidents, Offenses, Victims, and Known Offenders by Offense Type, 2006

Offense type	Incidents1	Offenses	Victims2	Known offenders3
Total	7,722	9,080	9,652	7,330
Crimes against persons:	4,378	5,449	5,449	5,770
Murder and nonnegligent manslaughter	3	3	3	3
Forcible rape	6	6	6	8
Aggravated assault	860	1,178	1,178	1,606
Simple assault	1,447	1,737	1,737	2,116
Intimidation	2,046	2,508	2,508	2,018
Other4	16	17	17	18
Crimes against property:	3,593	3,593	4,165	1,912
Robbery	142	142	200	311
Burglary	155	155	177	112
Larceny-theft	261	261	283	182
Motor vehicle theft	25	25	44	17
Arson	41	41	51	30
Destruction/damage/vandalism	2,911	2,911	3,348	1,212
Other4	58	58	62	48
Crimes against society4	38	38	38	58

1 The actual number of incidents is 7,722. However, the column figures will not add to the total because incidents may include more than one offense type, and these are counted in each appropriate offense type category.

2 The term victim may refer to a person, business, institution, or society as a whole.

3 The term known offender does not imply that the identity of the suspect is known, but only that an attribute of the suspect has been identified, which distinguishes him/her from an unknown offender. The actual number of known offenders is 7,330. However, the column figures will not add to the total because some offenders are responsible for more than one offense type, and they are, therefore, counted more than once in this table.

4 Includes additional offenses collected in the NIBRS.

Agency Hate Crime Reporting by State, 2006

Participating state	# of participating agencies	Population covered	Agencies submitting reports	Total # of incidents reported
Total	12,620	255,086,543	2,105	7,722
Alabama	42	693,540	1	1
Alaska	2	284,014	1	6
Arizona	80	5,889,288	24	149
Arkansas	257	2,739,473	42	113
California	728	36,457,549	250	1,297
Colorado	220	4,724,991	45	138
Connecticut	99	3,504,130	51	131
Delaware	53	853,476	17	48
District of Columbia	2	581,530	2	57
Florida	491	18,045,007	91	216
Georgia	61	1,145,950	4	13
Idaho	105	1,460,666	12	23
Illinois	66	5,264,133	49	187
Indiana	124	2,796,935	15	39
Iowa	223	2,929,952	15	28
Kansas	359	2,135,498	49	109
Kentucky	320	3,731,141	28	64
Louisiana	108	2,291,563	13	22
Maine	148	1,321,574	31	59
Maryland	153	5,615,727	34	212
Massachusetts	328	6,040,017	85	379
Michigan	598	9,981,189	185	653
Minnesota	289	4,306,199	53	137
Mississippi	62	830,449	0	0
Missouri	309	3,532,150	26	78
Montana	93	923,589	14	24
Nebraska	197	1,472,246	10	56
Nevada	34	2,495,529	11	125
New Hampshire	134	987,279	20	34
New Jersey	513	8,724,560	225	759
New Mexico	46	1,220,005	5	20
New York	277	15,094,282	41	522
North Carolina	434	8,381,485	40	100
North Dakota	72	570,642	9	16
Ohio	493	8,638,061	87	300
Oklahoma	294	3,568,374	28	51
Oregon	169	3,697,193	32	141
Pennsylvania	954	11,740,668	27	97
Rhode Island	47	1,067,610	12	19
South Carolina	476	4,318,330	56	110
South Dakota	91	599,756	7	76
Tennessee	459	6,036,872	65	202
Texas	996	23,483,201	68	245
Utah	111	2,516,523	21	35
Vermont	78	612,273	10	21
Virginia	399	7,621,121	91	341
Washington	253	6,393,124	56	177
West Virginia	340	1,707,846	18	34
Wisconsin	371	5,556,506	25	84
Wyoming	62	503,327	4	5

Source: FBI