Racial hate crimes down, anti-gay crimes up.

According to the most recent FBI hate crime statistics, racially motivated incidents were slightly down by 1% while there has been a surge in hate crimes against gays and lesbians, up 6%. Incidents of hate crimes include vandalism, threats or intimidation, and assault. In 2007, there were a total of 7,624 hate crimes. African Americans, Jews, and gays are the most frequent victims, with race remaining the largest category of incidents.

ALL HATE CRIMES

RACE

50.8% of hate crimes were racially motivated

RELIGION

18.4% of hate crimes were a result of religious bias

SEX

16.6% of hate crimes resulted from sexual orientation bias

OTHER

EDITED BY CAROLYN M. BROWN

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