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Of the 6,406 known hate crimes committed in the U.S. in 2019, 52.5% of them were committed by white people, according to the FBI's Hate Crime Statistics, 2019, the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program’s latest compilation about bias-motivated incidents throughout the nation.
On a parallel track, the Trump's administration's continuing use of racist rhetoric to rile up his base and apparent reluctance to strongly condemn white extremists has emboldened white supremacists and vigilantism.
The proliferation of white supremacist ideology online combined with a culture of gun violence in the U.S. has resulted in some perpetrators of mass shootings targeting victims for their race, religion, or other protected characteristic, said Kami Chavis, professor of law and director of the criminal justice program at Wake Forest University.
Chavis said there's been a lack of urgency to stem a growing threat of domestic terrorism in the U.S., including the threat from white supremacists, many of whom are radicalized through social media.
Earlier this year when the spike in anti-Asian acts began, the FBI warned that a surge of hate Asians and Asian Americans is likely to occur. Various websites collecting incidents against AAPI have recorded thousands of reports.
The FBI had elevated its assessment of the threat posed by racially-motivated violent extremists in the U.S. to a "national threat priority" for the 2020 fiscal year.
"There is an inextricable link between armed white supremacists and the increase in hate crimes, particularly deadly ones," Chavis said.
In one of the better known incidents, James Alex Fields, Jr., who participated in a white nationalist rally held in Charlottesville, Virginia, has been sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to hate crimes charges that resulted in the death of a victim, caused bodily injury, and involved an attempt to kill other people after he drove into a group of counter-protestors.
The annual report said that Blacks committed 23.9%. Other races accounted for the remaining known offenders: 1.1% were American Indian or Alaska Native, 0.9% were Asian, 0.3% were Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, and 6.6% were of a group of multiple races. The race was unknown for 14.6%.
"Yet another year with alarming levels of bias-motivated crimes underscores just how urgent it is to address this hate crimes epidemic," Human Rights Campaign President Alphonso David said in a statement.
Hate acts against Asians made up 4.4% of the incidents. The FBI data does not contain the reports being compiled this year by Asian American community groups since Donald Trump began blaming China for the coronavirus pandemic. His use of the racist terms "Chinese virus" "Wuhan virus" or "Kung flu" while blaming China was a strong factor in the sharp rise of anti-Asian incidents.
On a parallel track, the Trump's administration's continuing use of racist rhetoric to rile up his base and apparent reluctance to strongly condemn white extremists has emboldened white supremacists and vigilantism.
The proliferation of white supremacist ideology online combined with a culture of gun violence in the U.S. has resulted in some perpetrators of mass shootings targeting victims for their race, religion, or other protected characteristic, said Kami Chavis, professor of law and director of the criminal justice program at Wake Forest University.
Chavis said there's been a lack of urgency to stem a growing threat of domestic terrorism in the U.S., including the threat from white supremacists, many of whom are radicalized through social media.
Earlier this year when the spike in anti-Asian acts began, the FBI warned that a surge of hate Asians and Asian Americans is likely to occur. Various websites collecting incidents against AAPI have recorded thousands of reports.
The FBI had elevated its assessment of the threat posed by racially-motivated violent extremists in the U.S. to a "national threat priority" for the 2020 fiscal year.
"There is an inextricable link between armed white supremacists and the increase in hate crimes, particularly deadly ones," Chavis said.
In one of the better known incidents, James Alex Fields, Jr., who participated in a white nationalist rally held in Charlottesville, Virginia, has been sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to hate crimes charges that resulted in the death of a victim, caused bodily injury, and involved an attempt to kill other people after he drove into a group of counter-protestors.
The FBI data, submitted by 15,588 law enforcement agencies, provide information about the offenses, victims, offenders, and locations of hate crimes.
Law enforcement agencies submitted incident reports involving 7,314 criminal incidents and 8,559 related offenses as being motivated by bias toward race, ethnicity, ancestry, religion, sexual orientation, disability, gender, and gender identity. Please note the UCR Program does not estimate offenses for the jurisdictions of agencies that do not submit reports. Highlights of Hate Crime Statistics, 2019 follow.
The actual number of hate crimes is most likely higher than reported because law enforcement agencies are not mandated to report hate crimes and agencies have different definitions and criteria of what constitutes a hate crime.
Victims of Hate Crime Incidents
- There were 7,103 single-bias incidents involving 8,552 victims. A percent distribution of victims by bias type shows that 57.6% of victims were targeted because of the offenders’ race/ethnicity/ancestry bias; 20.1% were targeted because of the offenders’ religious bias; 16.7% were victimized because of the offenders’ sexual-orientation bias; 2.7% were targeted because of the offenders’ gender identity bias; 2.0% were victimized because of the offenders’ disability bias; and 0.9% were victimized because of the offenders’ gender bias.
- There were 211 multiple-bias hate crime incidents, which involved 260 victims.
Offenses by Crime Category
- Of the 5,512 hate crime offenses classified as crimes against persons in 2019, 40% were for intimidation, 36.7% were for simple assault, and 21% were for aggravated assault. Fifty-one murders; 30 rapes; and three offenses of human trafficking (commercial sex acts) were reported as hate crimes. The remaining 41 hate crime offenses were reported in the category of other.
- There were 2,811 hate crime offenses classified as crimes against property. The majority of these, 76.6% were acts of destruction/damage/vandalism. Robbery, burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, arson, and other offenses accounted for the remaining 23.4% of crimes against property.
- Two hundred thirty-six additional offenses were classified as crimes against society. This crime category represents society’s prohibition against engaging in certain types of activity such as gambling, prostitution, and drug violations. These are typically victimless crimes in which property is not the object.
Known Offenders
- In the UCR Program, the term known offender does not imply that the suspect’s identity is known; rather, the term indicates that some aspect of the suspect was identified, thus distinguishing the suspect from an unknown offender. Law enforcement agencies specify the number of offenders and, when possible, the race of the offender or offenders as a group. Beginning in 2013, law enforcement began reporting whether suspects were juveniles or adults, as well as the suspect’s ethnicity when possible.
- Of the 6,406 known offenders, 52.5% were white, and 23.9% were Black or African American. Other races accounted for the remaining known offenders: 1.1% were American Indian or Alaska Native, 0.9% were Asian, 0.3% were Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, and 6.6% were of a group of multiple races. The race was unknown for 14.6%.
- Of the 5,443 known offenders for whom ethnicity was reported, 33.1% were Not Hispanic or Latino, 10% were Hispanic or Latino, and 1.9% were in a group of multiple ethnicities. Ethnicity was unknown for 55.0% of these offenders.
- Of the 5,599 known offenders for whom ages were known, 84.6% were 18 years of age or older.
The data revealed "a harrowing trend of increasing hate crimes being reported in the United States, even as fewer law enforcement agencies provided data to the FBI," the anti-Defamation League responded in a press release.
"The total severity of the impact and damage caused by hate crimes cannot be fully measured without complete participation in the FBI's data collection process," ADL director Jonathan Greenblatt said.
"The total severity of the impact and damage caused by hate crimes cannot be fully measured without complete participation in the FBI's data collection process," ADL director Jonathan Greenblatt said.
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