The FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program released its annual Hate Crime Statistics Report today, which is a compilation of bias-motivated incidents that have been reported throughout the United States which rose a shocking  5% since last years study.

There were a total of 7,615 reported victims of hate crimes. According to the FBI, victims of hate crimes can be individuals, businesses, government entities, religious organizations or society as whole, and they can be committed against persons, property or society.

Nearly 18 percent of the hate crimes last year were motivated by sexual-orientation bias, 62 percent of those targeting gay men.

Sexual-orientation bias

In 2016, law enforcement agencies reported 1,218 hate crime offenses based on sexual-orientation bias. Of these offenses:

• 62.8 percent were classified as anti-gay (male) bias.

• 21.5 percent were prompted by an anti-lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (mixed group) bias.

• 11.6 percent were classified as anti-lesbian bias.

• 2.2 percent were classified as anti-bisexual bias.

The Southern Poverty Law Center documented a wave of hate incidents in the months following the November 2016 election.

“We now have an unbroken streak of presidential election year increases [in hate crimes] going back to 1992, around the time national data collection commenced,” said Brian Levin, a professor at the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino.

The FBI’s annual hate crime statistics, which is one of the only measurements of hate in America relies on local and state police departments that voluntarily report their hate crime numbers to the FBI, which over 3,000 law enforcement agencies don’t bother to do on a yearly basis. In addition many hate crimes across America are not reported out of fear, intimidation and social stigma.

Other statistics include:

Race/Ethnicity/Ancestry bias

In 2016, law enforcement agencies reported that 4,229 single-bias hate crime offenses were motivated by race/ethnicity/ancestry. Of these offenses:

• 50.2 percent were motivated by anti-Black or African American bias.

• 20.7 percent stemmed from anti-White bias.

• 10.6 percent were classified as anti-Hispanic or Latino bias.

• 4.2 percent were a result of bias against groups of individuals consisting of more than one race (anti-multiple races, group).

• 3.8 percent were motivated by anti-American Indian or Alaska Native bias.

• 3.1 percent resulted from anti-Asian bias.

• 1.3 percent were classified as anti-Arab bias.

• 0.2 percent (9 offenses) were motivated by bias of anti-Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander.

• 5.8 percent were the result of an anti-Other Race/Ethnicity/Ancestry bias.

 

Gender-identity bias 

Of the single-bias incidents, 130 offenses were a result of gender-identity bias. Of these offenses:

• 111 were anti-transgender.

• 19 were anti-gender non-conforming.

 

Religious bias

In 2016 Religious bias counted for 1,538 offenses reported by law enforcement. A breakdown of the bias motivation of religious-biased offenses showed:

• 54.2 percent were anti-Jewish.

• 24.8 percent were anti-Islamic (Muslim).

• 4.1 percent were anti-Catholic.

• 3.1 percent were anti-multiple religions, group.

• 2.4 percent were anti-Other Christian.

• 1.8 percent were anti-Eastern Orthodox (Russian, Greek, Other).

• 1.3 percent were anti-Protestant.

• 0.8 percent (12 offenses) were anti-Hindu.

• 0.5 percent (8 offenses) were anti-Mormon

• 0.5 percent (7 offenses) were anti-Sikh.

• 0.4 percent (6 offenses) were anti-Atheism/Agnosticism/etc.

• 0.2 percent (3 offenses) were anti-Jehovah’s Witness.

• 0.1 percent (1 offense) was anti-Buddhist.

You can view the rest of the FBI REPORT by clicking on the link