| Shay Bilchik, Administrator . Fact Sheet #29 August 1995 Hate Crime Eric Bishop and Jeff Slowikowski Hate crime, also known as bias crime, has been defined by the Department of Justice.s Community Relations Service (CRS) as : A criminal offense committed against a person or property which is motivated, in whole or in part, by the offender's bias against a race, religion, ethnic/national origin, or sexual orientation group. In 1990, Congress enacted the Hate Crimes Statistics Act, mandating the Attorney General to collect data on the numbers of crimes committed annually in the United States that are motivated by hate. The Attorney General has directed the Federal Bureau of Investigation.s (FBI) Uniform Crime Reporting Program to conduct the data collection and issue an annual report. The FBI reported 7,587 bias motivated criminal incidents with 8,987 offenses and 9,372 victims for the year 1993. The FBI notes that hate crimes are not distinct offenses, but rather traditional crimes motivated by bias. The Nature of Hate Crime In 1993, intimidation accounted for 34% of the 8,987 reported offenses with destruction of property or vandalism accounting for 26%, followed by simple assaults at 20%, and aggravated assaults at 16% (Table 1). There were 16 murders and 17 rapes reported in 1993 that were motivated by hate. In these offenses, the most common motivation was race (64.4%), followed by religion (15.1%), sexual orientation (11.1%) and ethnicity/national origin (9.4%) (Table 2). TABLE 1. Hate and Bias Incidents, Offenses, Victims and Known Offenders by Category in 1993. Incidents Offenses Total 7,587 8,987 Offense Category Person Crimes: 4,981 6,293 Murder 11 16 Forcible Rape 13 15 Assault Aggravated 1,044 1,452 Simple 1,462 1,754 Intimidation 2,451 3,056 Property Crimes: 2,580 2,666 Robbery 157 161 Burglary 84 88 Larceny-theft 55 61 Auto Theft 9 9 Arson 53 53 Vandalism 2,222 2,294 Other: 26 28 TABLE 1 continued Known Victims Offenders Total 9,372 8,610 Offense Category Person Crimes: 6,293 7,051 Murder 16 22 Forcible Rape 15 17 Assault Aggravated 1,452 2,395 Simple 1,754 2,491 Intimidation 3,056 2,126 Property Crimes: Robbery 202 378 Burglary 104 38 Larceny-theft 71 48 Auto Theft 9 9 Arson 61 36 Vandalism 2,604 1,011 Other: 28 39 Source: Hate Crime Statistics 1993, Federal Bureau of Investigation Note: An incident is a single event recorded by law enforcement. Each incident can have multiple offenses and multiple offenders. The Victims of Hate Crime There were 9,372 victims of hate crimes in 1993. Of this number, 85% were individuals with the remaining 15% being businesses, organizations, or other property. Table 2 shows that within the Race category, blacks were the victims of 59.2% of the crimes committed, while whites were the victims in 30.8% of the crimes. In the Ethnicity/National Origin category, 71.8% of the hate crimes were committed against Hispanics. In the Religion category, the majority of the victims were of the Jewish faith (87.9%). Within the Sexual Orientation category, 68.6% of the victims were male homosexuals and 14.7% were female homosexuals. TABLE 2. Hate Crime Incidents, Offenses, Victims and Known Offenders by Bias Motivation, 1993. Incidents Offenses Total 7,587 8,987 Bias Motivation Race: 4,732 5,786 Anti-White 1,471 1,814 Anti-Black 2,815 3,410 Anti-American Indian/ 27 39 Alaskan Native Anti-Asian/Pacific 258 297 Islander Anti-Multi-Racial 161 226 Ethnicity/National 697 845 Origin: Anti-Hispanic 472 596 Anti-Other Ethnicity 225 249 Religion: 1,298 1,358 Anti-Jewish 1,143 1,197 Anti-Catholic 32 33 Anti-Protestant 30 30 Anti-Islamic 13 15 Anti-Other Religion 63 66 Anti-Multi-Religious 14 14 Anti-Atheism/ 3 3 Agnosticism/etc. Sexual Orientation: 860 998 Homosexual Anti-Male 615 699 Anti-Female 121 147 Anti-Homosexual 94 122 Anti-Heterosexual 28 28 Anti-Bisexual 2 2 TABLE 2 continued Known Victims Offenders Total 9,372 8,610 Bias Motivation Race: 6,011 6,258 Anti-White 1,853 2,890 Anti-Black 3,559 2,845 Anti-American Indian/ 43 49 Alaskan Native Anti-Asian/Pacific 316 291 Islander Anti-Multi-Racial 240 183 Ethnicity/National 895 814 Origin: Anti-Hispanic 643 653 Anti-Other Ethnicity 252 161 Religion: 1,423 461 Anti-Jewish 1,252 371 Anti-Catholic 33 16 Anti-Protestant 38 13 Anti-Islamic 15 11 Anti-Other Religion 68 21 Anti-Multi-Religious 14 26 Anti-Atheism/ 3 3 Agnosticism/etc. Sexual Orientation: 1,043 1,077 Homosexual Anti-Male 716 834 Anti-Female 154 106 Anti-Homosexual 143 110 Anti-Heterosexual 28 26 Anti-Bisexual 2 1 Source: Hate Crime Statistics 1993, Federal Bureau of Investigation Note: An incident is a single event recorded by law enforcement. Each incident can have multiple offenses and multiple offenders. Hate Crime Data Collection Current data on juvenile involvement in the perpetration of hate crimes is limited. Victimization information is not available. No empirical data identified the extent or impact of hate crimes on juveniles. The FBI's Uniform Crime Reports - Hate Crime Statistics for 1993 does not specify the age of the offender. The FBI.s new data collection system, The National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS), will be more specific as to exact demographics, including the age of both the victim and offender, but is still several years away from implementation. Another common source for crime data, the Bureau of Justice Statistics' (BJS) National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) , does not identify motives for the crimes reported. It also contains no information with regard to the offender. The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention's Role in Hate Crime The Administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), in accordance with sections 248(b)(7)(A) and 261(a)(9) of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974, as amended, has initiated two projects on hate crimes involving juveniles. The projects, The Juvenile Hate Crime Study and Hate Crime Prevention: A Juvenile Justice Approach, were initially funded in 1993. Juvenile Hate Crime Study The Juvenile Hate Crime Study, conducted by West Virginia University's Dr. Richard Ball and David Curry, is a research project designed to standardize the complex issues in defining hate crimes. It is also studying the quality and availability of statistics pertaining to the involvement of juveniles, either as offenders or victims, in hate crimes. Preliminary findings indicate that only six states, and seven major cities within those states, maintain crime related data that specifies the age of the offender in hate crimes. The data reviewed from the six states revealed a wide variance in the percentage of hate crimes that can be attributed to juveniles (8.5% to 62.6%). A juvenile is defined as a person under the age of 18. In the seven major cities, juveniles were identified as the offender in a hate crime in 8.3% to 42.9% of the offenses. From the data reviewed in these states and cities, it can be extrapolated by using robust statistical techniques that an estimated 17% to 26% of all hate crimes incidents recorded by law enforcement can be attributed to juveniles. Under the OJJDP study, some correlates between juveniles and hate crime involvement have been identified. There appears to be a correlation between involvement in hate crime offending and gang-related crime. This is most notable with skinhead gangs and similar hate groups. These areas are identified by the project as needing further study. A 1988 Abt Associates study of hate crime estimated that half of the individuals arrested for hate crimes are adolescents and young adults between 16 and 25 years of age (Finn, P. And McNeil, T., 1988). In comparison, the FBI Uniform Crime Reports reported that only 35% of all arrests in 1993 were adolescents and young adults between 16-24 years of age. Juvenile Hate Crime Prevention The second project, Hate Crime Prevention: A Juvenile Justice Approach, is being conducted by the Education Development Center, Inc., (EDC). EDC's goals are to assist the field in the implementation of programs to prevent hate crime and to build awareness in the field of education and criminal justice to prevent hate crimes. These goals will be accomplished by developing, pilot testing and disseminating a hate crime prevention curriculum. At present, EDC has completed an assessment of the relevant literature and existing curricula and surveyed experts in the field. EDC also established an advisory board of national experts in the areas of juvenile justice, education, hate crime research, and victim assistance to advise and assist in the development of the curriculum. This developmental effort resulted in the production of a summary report of existing programs and a draft educational curriculum for juveniles. The EDC curriculum is divided into three different sections: 1) Introduction and Implementation Guidelines; 2) Where we are now: Understanding and Preventing Hate Crime and Incidents; and 3) How it begins: Understanding the Roots of Hate. The educational curriculum is designed to prevent hate crime and offer guidance to juveniles who commit hate crimes. It consists of 10 forty minute units. Each unit contains a lesson plan that includes student learning objectives, preparation instructions, teaching points, activities, handouts, lesson goals and purposes. EDC's curriculum was pilot tested at the Collins Middle School in Salem, Massachusetts this past year. EDC is currently reviewing and evaluating curriculum implementation. Once the evaluation is completed, the curriculum will undergo a redesign and be tested in two more sites to assure the efficacy of the program. If successful, it will be made available for national replication. The products developed from this OJJDP project are expected to have substantial impact on the juvenile justice agencies and hate crime prevention organizations that currently utilize training mechanisms but do not have the time, research, or expertise to develop curriculum materials on hate crime. References: Ball, Richard A. and David Curry. (1995). Hate/Bias Crimes and Juveniles: A National Assessment. Draft Report submitted to The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Department of Justice. Federal Bureau of Investigation. (1993). Hate Crime Statistics 1993. Uniform Crime Reports. Finn, P. and T. McNeil. (1988). Bias Crime and Criminal Justice Response: A Summary Report Prepared for the National Criminal Justice Association. Cambridge, MA: Abt Associates, Inc. McLaughlin, K. and Kelly Brilliant. (1994). Hate Crime Prevention: A Juvenile Justice Approach. Educational Development Center, Inc. Draft Assessment Report Summary submitted to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Department of Justice. This Fact Sheet was prepared by Eric Bishop, Intern, and Jeff Slowikowski, Program Specialist, both with OJJDP's Research and Program Development Division. For further information on hate crimes, please call Jeff Slowikowski at (202) 307-5929. FS-9529 | |
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