Hate crime.Definition A hate crime, also known as a bias crime, is a criminal offense committed against a person, property, or society that is motivated mo·ti·vate tr.v. mo·ti·vat·ed, mo·ti·vat·ing, mo·ti·vates To provide with an incentive; move to action; impel. mo , in whole or in part, by the offender's bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation sexual orientation n. The direction of one's sexual interest toward members of the same, opposite, or both sexes, especially a direction seen to be dictated by physiologic rather than sociologic forces. , or ethnicity/ national origin. Background In response to mounting national concern over crimes motivated by bias, Congress enacted the Hate Crime Statistics Act The Hate Crime Statistics Act, 28 USC 534, requires the Attorney General to collect data on crimes committed because of the victim's race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or ethnicity. The bill was signed into law by George H. W. of 1990. The law directed the Attorney General to collect data "about crimes that manifest manifest 1) adj., adv. completely obvious or evident. 2) n. a written list of goods in a shipment. MANIFEST, com. law. A written instrument containing a true account of the cargo of a ship or commercial vessel. 2. evidence of prejudice prejudice, unsubstantiated prejudgment of an individual or group, favorable or unfavorable in character, tending to action in a consonant direction. The hostility that prejudice can engender and the discrimination to which it may lead on the part of a dominant based on race, religion, sexual orientation, or ethnicity ethnicity Vox populi Racial status–ie, African American, Asian, Caucasian, Hispanic ." The Attorney General delegated the responsibility for developing and implementing a hate crime data collection program to the Director of the FBI, who assigned as·sign tr.v. as·signed, as·sign·ing, as·signs 1. To set apart for a particular purpose; designate: assigned a day for the inspection. 2. the task to the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR (Under Color Removal) A method for reducing the amount of printing ink used. It substitutes black for gray color (equal amounts of cyan, magenta and yellow). Thus black ink is used instead of the three CMY inks. See GCR and dot gain. ) Program. In September September: see month. 1994, Congress passed the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act (1994), also known as the Biden Crime Law, is a piece of legislation, sponsored by Rep. Jack Brooks and supported by Sen. , which amended a·mend v. a·mend·ed, a·mend·ing, a·mends v.tr. 1. To change for the better; improve: amended the earlier proposal so as to make it more comprehensive. 2. 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 January: see month. 1997. The Church Arson arson, at common law, the malicious and willful burning of the house of another. Originally, it was an offense against the security of habitation rather than against property rights. Act of 1996 mandated that hate crime data collection become a permanent part of the UCR Program. Those who developed the guidelines guidelines, n.pl a set of standards, criteria, or specifications to be used or followed in the performance of certain tasks. 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 de·rive v. de·rived, de·riv·ing, de·rives v.tr. 1. To obtain or receive from a source. 2. 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 ful·fill also ful·fil tr.v. ful·filled, ful·fill·ing, ful·fills also ful·fils 1. To bring into actuality; effect: fulfilled their promises. 2. 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 A law enforcement agency (LEA) is a term used to describe any agency which enforces the law. This may be a local or state police, federal agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) or the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). 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 manslaughter, homicide committed without justification or excuse but distinguished from murder by the absence of the element of malice aforethought. Modern criminal statutes usually divide it into degrees, the most common distinction being between voluntary and , forcible forc·i·ble adj. 1. Effected against resistance through the use of force: The police used forcible restraint in order to subdue the assailant. 2. Characterized by force; powerful. rape, aggravated assault A person is guilty of aggravated assault if he or she attempts to cause serious bodily injury to another or causes such injury purposely, knowingly, or recklessly under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life; or attempts to cause or purposely or , simple assault, intimidation, robbery robbery, in law, felonious taking of property from a person against his will by threatening or committing force or violence. The injury or threat may be directed against the person robbed, his property, or the person or property of his relative or of anyone in his , burglary burglary, at common law, the breaking and entering of a dwelling house of another at night with the intent to commit a felony, whether the intent is carried out or not. , larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft Motor vehicle theft or grand theft auto is a criminal act of theft generally understood to refer to the stealing of automobiles, buses, motorcycles, snowmobiles, trucks, trailers or any other motorized vehicle legally allowed on public roads and highways, including attempted , 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. An abstract based on the information received from law enforcement agencies that provided 1 to 12 months of hate crime reports during 2004 follows. More detailed information concerning the characteristics of hate crime can be found in the UCR Program's annual publication Hate Crime Statistics. Participation The UCR Program published the first national hate crime data in 1992 with participation from 6,200 law enforcement agencies. Since then, the hate crime data collection program has been marked by a slow but steady increase in participation. A total of 12,711 law enforcement agencies took part in the national hate crime program during 2004. This number represents a 6.7-percent increase in agency participation from 2003. Of those agencies that participated, 2,046 (16.1 percent) reported hate crime incidents. (See Table 2.35.) By way of comparison, 11,909 agencies participated in the program in 2003, and 1,967 (16.5 percent) contributed hate crime incident reports. 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 To embrace, cover, or include; to confine within; to consist of. In the law governing patents—grants of an exclusive right or privilege to make, use, or sell an invention or product for a term of years—the term comprise the offense types that the Program considers crimes against property. For 2004, the hate crime program tallied 7,649 bias-motivated incidents involving 9,035 offenses directed at 9,528 victims. The offenses were committed by 7,145 known offenders. 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. (See Table 2.32.) 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. (Based on Table 2.32.) Offenses In the hate crime program, bias-motivated offenses can be directed at persons, property, or society. During 2004, law enforcement agencies identified 9,035 offenses within the reported 7,649 incidents. Of these offenses, 62.4 percent were directed against persons, 36.9 percent against property, and the remainder (0.7 percent) against society. Approximately ap·prox·i·mate adj. 1. Almost exact or correct: the approximate time of the accident. 2. one-half of all bias-motivated offenses against persons involved the crime of intimidation (50.1 percent). Nearly all of the other offenses directed at persons involved assaults: simple assaults made up 31.0 percent and aggravated assaults accounted for 18.4 percent of the offenses. The majority of hate motivated offenses directed against property (84.4 percent) involved destruction, damage, or vandalism The intentional and malicious destruction of or damage to the property of another. The intentional destruction of property is popularly referred to as vandalism. It includes behavior such as breaking windows, slashing tires, spray painting a wall with graffiti, and . An analysis of the total reported offenses showed that intimidation accounted for 31.3 percent of the 9,035 offenses; destruction/damage/vandalism, 31.1 percent; simple assault, 19.4 percent; and aggravated assault, 11.5 percent of the total offenses. (Based on Table 2.33.) Victims Of the 9,528 victims of hate crimes in 2004, 9,514 were associated with an incident involving a single bias. More than half of that number (53.8 percent) were victims of racial prejudice. Of those, 67.9 percent were victimized because of anti-black an·ti-Black or an·ti-black adj. Hostile or opposed to Black people. attitudes, and 20.1 percent were targets of anti-white an·ti-white also an·ti·white adj. Hostile or opposed to white people: "To talk about black does not mean we are anti-white" Ron Clark. sentiments. Victims of religious intolerance Religious intolerance is either intolerance motivated by one's own religious beliefs or intolerance against another's religious beliefs or practices. It manifests both at a cultural level, but may also be a formal part of the dogma of particular religious groups. made up 16.7 percent of the victims of incidents involving a single bias. Of those, 67.8 percent were victims of anti-Jewish bias, and 12.7 percent were targets of anti-Islamic bias. Of the total number of victims of single-bias incidents, 15.6 percent were attacked because of a sexual-orientation bias. The majority of those victims, 60.9 percent, were the objects of anti-male homosexual homosexual /ho·mo·sex·u·al/ (-sek´shoo-al) 1. pertaining to, characteristic of, or directed toward the same sex. 2. one who is sexually attracted to persons of the same sex. attitudes on the part of the offenders. Approximately 13 percent (13.2) of the victims in single-bias incidents were targeted because of the offenders' ethnicity/national orientation orientation, in architecture, the disposition of the parts of a building with reference to the points of the compass. From remote antiquity the traditional belief in the efficacy of religious ceremonials performed at dawn toward the rising sun has influenced the bias. Of those, 51.5 percent were marked because of the perpetrators' anti-Hispanic views. (Based on Table 2.32.) Less than 1 percent of the total victims of crimes motivated by a single bias were targets of an anti-disability bias. Of the 73 victims of this type of bias, 49 were the subjects of a bias against a mental disability. Fourteen of the total 9,528 victims of hate crimes were the objects of multiple biases on the part of the offenders. (See Table 2.32.) Offenders The hate crime incident reports for 2004 contained a total of 7,145 known offenders. The term known offender offender n. an accused defendant in a criminal case or one convicted of a crime. (See: defendant, accused) does not imply that the identity of the perpetrator A term commonly used by law enforcement officers to designate a person who actually commits a crime. was known but only that a distinguishing attribute (1) In relational database management, a field within a record. (2) In object technology, a single element of data. See instance attribute and static attribute. of the individual, race, was noted on the incident report. Of those persons who committed a crime based upon their perceived per·ceive tr.v. per·ceived, per·ceiv·ing, per·ceives 1. To become aware of directly through any of the senses, especially sight or hearing. 2. To achieve understanding of; apprehend. biases, 60.6 percent were white, and 19.7 percent were black. Nearly 13 percent (12.9) were classified as unknown race. Groups containing persons of various races accounted for 5.1 percent of the perpetrators, and the remainder were American American, river, 30 mi (48 km) long, rising in N central Calif. in the Sierra Nevada and flowing SW into the Sacramento River at Sacramento. The discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill (see Sutter, John Augustus) along the river in 1848 led to the California gold rush of Indian/Alaskan Natives or Asian/Pacific Islanders Islanders may refer to:
Table 2.32
Incidents, Offenses, Victims, and Known Offenders
by Bias Motivation, 2004
Bias motivation Incidents Offenses
Total 7,649 9,035
Single-Bias Incidents 7,642 9,021
Race: 4,042 4,863
Anti-White 829 998
Anti-Black 2,731 3,281
Anti-American Indian/Alaskan Native 83 97
Anti-Asian/Paci?c Islander 217 252
Anti-Multiple Races, Group 182 235
Religion: 1,374 1,480
Anti-Jewish 954 1,003
Anti-Catholic 57 57
Anti-Protestant 38 43
Anti-Islamic 156 193
Anti-Other Religion 128 140
Anti-Multiple Religions, Group 35 37
Anti-Atheism/Agnosticism/etc. 6 7
Sexual Orientation: 1,197 1,406
Anti-Male Homosexual 738 855
Anti-Female Homosexual 164 201
Anti-Homosexual 245 297
Anti-Heterosexual 33 35
Anti-Bisexual 17 18
Ethnicity/National Origin: 972 1,201
Anti-Hispanic 475 611
Anti-Other Ethnicity/National Origin 497 590
Disability: 57 71
Anti-Physical 23 23
Anti-Mental 34 48
Multiple-Bias Incidents (3) 7 14
Known
Bias motivation Victims (1) offenders (2)
Total 9,528 7,145
Single-Bias Incidents 9,514 7,136
Race: 5,119 4,173
Anti-White 1,027 1,085
Anti-Black 3,475 2,694
Anti-American Indian/Alaskan Native 100 97
Anti-Asian/Paci?c Islander 266 188
Anti-Multiple Races, Group 251 109
Religion: 1,586 604
Anti-Jewish 1,076 330
Anti-Catholic 68 37
Anti-Protestant 48 28
Anti-Islamic 201 124
Anti-Other Religion 147 68
Anti-Multiple Religions, Group 39 14
Anti-Atheism/Agnosticism/etc. 7 3
Sexual Orientation: 1,482 1,258
Anti-Male Homosexual 902 832
Anti-Female Homosexual 212 163
Anti-Homosexual 314 224
Anti-Heterosexual 36 22
Anti-Bisexual 18 17
Ethnicity/National Origin: 1,254 1,047
Anti-Hispanic 646 585
Anti-Other Ethnicity/National Origin 608 462
Disability: 73 54
Anti-Physical 24 16
Anti-Mental 49 38
Multiple-Bias Incidents (3) 14 9
(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
identi?ed, which distinguishes him/her from an unknown offender.
(3) A multiple-bias incident occurs only when two or more offense
types are committed in a single incident. In a situation where there
is more than one offense type, the agency can indicate a different
bias motivation for each offense type. In the case of a single offense
type, only one bias motivation can be indicated.
Table 2.33
Incidents, Offenses, Victims, and Known Offenders
by Offense Type, 2004
Offense type Incidents (1) Offenses
Total 7,649 9,035
Crimes against persons: 4,503 5,642
Murder and nonnegligent manslaughter 5 5
Forcible rape 4 4
Aggravated assault 765 1,040
Simple assault 1,448 1,750
Intimidation 2,267 2,827
Other (4) 14 16
Crimes against property: 3,333 3,333
Robbery 112 112
Burglary 146 146
Larceny-theft 169 169
Motor vehicle theft 15 15
Arson 44 44
Destruction/damage/vandalism 2,812 2,812
Other (4) 35 35
Crimes against society (4) 60 60
Known
Offense type Victims (2) offenders (3)
Total 9,528 7,145
Crimes against persons: 5,642 5,710
Murder and nonnegligent manslaughter 5 5
Forcible rape 4 5
Aggravated assault 1,040 1,316
Simple assault 1,750 2,190
Intimidation 2,827 2,173
Other (4) 16 21
Crimes against property: 3,826 1,711
Robbery 142 241
Burglary 169 130
Larceny-theft 186 134
Motor vehicle theft 15 8
Arson 57 45
Destruction/damage/vandalism 3,220 1,115
Other (4) 37 38
Crimes against society (4) 60 75
(1) The actual number of incidents is 7,649. 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 7,145. 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.
Table 2.34
Known Offenders (1)
Known Offender's Race, 2004
Total 7,145
White 4,327
Black 1,408
American Indian/Alaskan Native 48
Asian/Pacific Islander 70
Multiple Races, Group2 367
Unknown Race 925
(1) 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 identi?ed, which
distinguishes him/her from an unknown offender.
(2) The term multiple races, group is used to describe a
group of offenders comprised of individuals of varying
races.
Table 2.35
Agency Hate Crime Reporting by State, 2004
Number of
participating Population
Participating state agencies covered
Total 12,711 254,193,439
Alabama 51 527,267
Alaska 1 273,714
Arizona 82 5,554,597
Arkansas 192 1,632,735
California 725 35,893,799
Colorado 205 4,443,685
Connecticut 100 3,503,604
Delaware 53 830,364
District of Columbia 2 553,523
Florida 490 17,351,455
Georgia 77 1,576,482
Idaho 119 1,392,114
Illinois 63 5,088,478
Indiana 137 3,017,102
Iowa 219 2,905,626
Kansas 357 2,109,590
Kentucky 326 3,709,354
Louisiana 148 3,499,083
Maine 147 1,317,253
Maryland 150 5,558,058
Massachusetts 301 5,837,059
Michigan 601 8,995,290
Minnesota 318 5,083,400
Mississippi 68 1,012,911
Missouri 259 3,534,443
Montana 105 926,865
Nebraska 207 1,493,580
Nevada 35 2,334,771
New Hampshire 140 935,961
New Jersey 513 8,698,879
New Mexico 49 1,172,271
New York 520 19,199,225
North Carolina 418 8,027,181
North Dakota 69 560,073
Ohio 410 8,991,851
Oklahoma 297 3,523,553
Oregon 170 3,592,045
Pennsylvania 857 11,406,091
Rhode Island 48 1,080,632
South Carolina 468 4,196,056
South Dakota 155 765,756
Tennessee 453 5,900,962
Texas 987 22,466,217
Utah 55 1,840,775
Vermont 74 602,735
Virginia 395 7,399,760
Washington 253 6,203,788
West Virginia 431 1,815,354
Wisconsin 369 5,509,026
Wyoming 42 349,046
Agencies submitting Total number of
Participating state incident reports incidents reported
Total 2,046 7,649
Alabama 3 3
Alaska 1 9
Arizona 19 224
Arkansas 50 93
California 245 1,393
Colorado 26 59
Connecticut 49 116
Delaware 11 33
District of Columbia 2 49
Florida 95 274
Georgia 7 29
Idaho 12 37
Illinois 48 187
Indiana 13 63
Iowa 17 23
Kansas 21 49
Kentucky 32 71
Louisiana 12 22
Maine 29 68
Maryland 32 245
Massachusetts 90 346
Michigan 172 556
Minnesota 63 239
Mississippi 2 2
Missouri 29 71
Montana 25 56
Nebraska 15 62
Nevada 4 81
New Hampshire 29 48
New Jersey 249 769
New Mexico 3 21
New York 42 386
North Carolina 35 66
North Dakota 5 8
Ohio 74 353
Oklahoma 29 51
Oregon 23 155
Pennsylvania 34 105
Rhode Island 8 29
South Carolina 51 105
South Dakota 6 7
Tennessee 68 136
Texas 84 309
Utah 16 59
Vermont 12 28
Virginia 68 307
Washington 51 175
West Virginia 12 31
Wisconsin 19 37
Wyoming 4 4
Figure 2.17
Bias-motivated Offenses
Percent Ditsribution, (1) 2004
Multiple Bias 0.2%
Disability 0.8%
Race 53.8%
Ethnicity 13.3%
Sexual Orientation 15.6%
Religion 16.4%
(1) Due to rounding, the percentages may not add to 100.0.
Note: Table made from pie chart.
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