Hate Crime Recorded by Law Enforcement, 2010-2019

• NCJ Number: 301554
• Author(s): Erica L. Smith, BJS Statistician
• Date Published: September 2021
• Publication Series: Hate Crime
• Publication Type: Publication

Description

This report presents data from the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Hate Crime Statistics Program (HCSP) on hate crime incidents and victims from 2010 to 2019. The HCSP, which began in 1990, collects hate crime data regarding criminal offenses motivated, in whole or in part, by the offender’s bias against a race or ethnicity, religion, disability, sexual orientation, gender, or gender identity. The HCSP includes crimes reported to police that, after investigation, reveal sufficient evidence to support being recorded as hate crimes. The report examines incidents and victims of hate crime recorded by law enforcement, trends over time in total hate crimes, and hate crimes motivated by bias against the victim’s race, ethnicity, or ancestry.

Highlights

• From 2010 to 2019, the number of hate crime incidents recorded by law enforcement increased by 10%, from 6,628 reported incidents to 7,314 incidents. By comparison, the total volume of reported crime—including both hate and nonhate incidents—decreased 22% during the 10-year period.
• The number of hate crime victims increased 7% from 2010 to 2019.
• More than half (54%) of hate crime incidents reported to the HCSP were motivated by bias against the victim’s race, ethnicity, or ancestry.
• Among victims of hate crime during the 5-year aggregate period of 2015–19, nearly half (49%) were victims of anti-black or anti-African American bias.
• Anti-Asian bias accounted for 3% of both incidents and victims of race, ethnicity, or ancestry bias during 2015–19.