1999 Hate Crime Statistics.

According to final 1999 hate crime data in the FBI's annual publication Hate Crime Statistics, 12,122 law enforcement agencies in 48 states and Washington, D.C. reported a total of 7,876 bias-motivated criminal incidents to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting Program. Of the incidents, racial bias motivated 4,295; religious bias was associated with 1,411; sexual-orientation bias accounted for 1,317; ethnicity/national origin bias was the cause of 829; disability bias was connected with 19; and the remaining 5 incidents resulted from multiple biases.

Reported hate crime incidents involved 9,301 offenses (some incidents may include more than one offense), 66.5 percent of which were classified as crimes against persons. Intimidation was the most frequently reported hate crime against persons, as well as the most frequently reported hate crime of all offenses measured, and accounted for 35.1 percent of the total. Additionally, destruction/damage/vandalism, the most frequently reported crime against property, accounted for 28.5 percent of the total. Simple assault and aggravated assault, both crimes against persons, comprised 19 percent and 12 percent, respectively, of all offenses.

Seventeen persons were murdered in incidents motivated by hate. Racial bias motivated 9 of the murders, and sexual-orientation bias and ethnicity/ national origin bias accounted for 3 deaths each. Two murders were motivated by religious bias.

Collectively, the 12,122 agencies that participated in the Hate Crime Data Collection Program in 1999 represented nearly 233 million United States residents, or over 85 percent of the nation's population. Though the reports from these agencies are insufficient to allow valid national or regional measure of the volume and types of crime motivated by hate, they offer perspectives on the general nature of hate crime occurrence.