10 Important Facts about Hate Crimes

Learn more about some of the ugly results of bias with our hate crime facts, including the history of its legislation, notable cases, and controversy.

10 Important Facts about Hate Crimes

1. Of 15,254 law enforcement agencies reporting to an FBI hate crimes commission in 2016, only 1,176 reported incidents of hate-motivated crimes in their jurisdictions.

2. Hate crime laws in the U.S. were expanded in 2009 to include crimes motivated by bias against disability, gender, gender identification, or sexual orientation.

3. Most hate crimes do not involve physical violence. In 2015, only 1/3 of all reported cases were violent crimes.

4. The Supreme Court first upheld the constitutionality of hate crime laws in 1993, over a case of black men beating a white boy. This was one year after they had rejected a hate crime case in which a white boy burned a cross on a black family’s lawn.

5. Many countries have followed the United States in adopting hate crime laws, or near equivalents, including Great Britain, Australia, Canada, and Germany.

6. Hate crime legislation generally involves increasing the penalties for a crime motivated by bias. For example, in New York, a person who committed assault would earn seven years in prison, but if the crime is classified as a hate crime, the penalty increases to 15 years.

7. Hate crime legislation is less than fifty years old, but crimes motivated by bias are as old as humanity itself. History is rife with such examples, from the Roman persecution of Christians to the African slave trade.

8. Statistically, blacks, Jews, and gay men are the most common target of hate crimes in the United States.

9. Twice in 2015, in the United States, business owners were found to have painted slurs upon and then burned down their own buildings. Only after further investigation were the supposed hate crimes found to be hoaxes.

10. Of the known hate crimes committed in 2016, only 0.2% (nine cases) were murders.

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