The hate crime data in this book comprise a subset of information that law enforcement agencies submit to the UCR Program. The types of hate crimes reported to the Program involve biases based on race, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity or national origin, and disability. Each type of bias is further broken down into more specific categories. For example, when a law enforcement agency determines that a hate crime was committed because of bias against an individual’s race, the agency may then classify the bias as anti-white, anti-black, anti-American Indian or Alaskan Native, anti-Asian or Pacific Islander, or anti-multiple races, group.
The UCR Program collects data about both single-bias and multiple-bias hate crimes. For each offense type, law enforcement must indicate one bias motivation. A single-bias incident occurs when one or more offense types within the incident are motivated by the same bias. A multiple-bias incident occurs when more than one offense type occurs in the incident and at least two offense types are motivated by a different bias. For each single- or multiple-bias incident, the Program captures the following data: offense type, location, bias motivation, victim type, number of victims, number of offenders, and the race of the known offender(s). The UCR data on hate crime can reflect not only multiple offense types within a single hate crime incident, but also multiple victims and offenders.
During 2004, over 17,000 law enforcement agencies nationwide participated in the UCR Program. Of these agencies, 12,711 (72.6 percent) submitted 1 to 12 months of hate crime reports, from which the following statistics are derived. (See the table at the end of the Introduction.)
In 2004, 2,046 agencies reported 7,649 incidents involving 9,035 offenses. There were 7,642 single-bias incidents and 7 multiple-bias incidents. (See Tables 1 and 12.) Among the single-bias incidents, racially motivated crimes accounted for 52.9 percent, religious bias accounted for 18.0 percent, bias against sexual orientation accounted for 15.7 percent, and bias against ethnicity or national origin accounted for 12.7 percent. Disability bias motivated 0.7 percent of single-bias incidents.
The 7,642 single-bias incidents reported to the UCR Program in 2004 involved 9,021 offenses; the 7 multiple-bias incidents involved 14 offenses. (Based on Table 1.)
The UCR Program categorizes offenses as crimes against persons, crimes against property, and crimes against society. (See Methodology.) In 2004, law enforcement agencies reported 5,642 offenses as crimes against persons, which accounted for 62.4 percent of reported hate crimes. Agencies also reported 3,333 offenses, or 36.9 percent of the total, as crimes against property and 60 offenses, or 0.7 percent, as crimes against society. (Based on Table 2.)
In 2004, racial bias motivated more than half (53.9 percent) of the 9,021 reported offenses within single-bias hate crime incidents; religious bias accounted for 16.4 percent; bias regarding sexual orientation, 15.6 percent; ethnicity or national origin, 13.3 percent; and disability bias, 0.8 percent.
Law enforcement agencies reported 4,863 offenses within single-bias incidents that were motivated by the offender’s racial bias. Among those offenses, 67.5 percent resulted from an anti-black bias, and 20.5 percent were due to an anti-white bias. Slightly more than 5 percent (5.2) of racially motivated incidents were driven by an anti-Asian or Pacific Islander bias, 2.0 percent involved a bias against American Indian or Alaskan Native races, and 4.8 percent were directed at groups of individuals in which more than one race was represented (multiple races, group).
Of the 1,480 reported offenses within single-bias incidents that were motivated by the offender’s religious bias, 67.8 percent were anti-Jewish, 13.0 percent were anti-Islamic, 3.9 percent were anti-Catholic, 2.9 percent were anti-Protestant, and 0.5 percent were anti-Atheism or Agnosticism. Bias against other (unspecified) religions accounted for 9.5 percent of the hate crime offenses motivated by religious bias, and bias against groups of individuals of varying religions (anti-multiple religions, group) accounted for 2.5 percent.
In 2004, bias against a particular sexual orientation accounted for 1,406 offenses within single-bias hate crime incidents. Law enforcement agencies reported that 60.8 percent of these offenses resulted from an anti-male homosexual bias, 21.1 percent from an anti-homosexual bias, 14.3 percent from an anti-female homosexual bias, 2.5 percent from an anti-heterosexual bias, and 1.3 percent from an anti-bisexual bias.
Law enforcement agencies classify hate crimes that are motivated by a bias against an ethnicity or national origin into one of two categories: anti-Hispanic or anti-other ethnicity/national origin. In 2004, agencies reported 1,201 offenses within single-bias incidents motivated by the offender’s bias against an ethnicity or national origin. Of these offenses, 50.9 percent were motivated by anti-Hispanic bias, and 49.1 percent were directed against other ethnicities or national origins. (Based on Table 1.)
Hate crimes that are committed because of a bias against a disability are classified as either anti-physical disability or anti-mental disability. In 2004, of the 71 offenses within single-bias incidents that were motivated by the offender’s bias against a disability, 23 were due to an anti-physical disability bias; 48 offenses were committed because of an anti-mental disability bias. (See Table 1.)
An analysis of the 9,035 hate crime offenses reported by law enforcement agencies in 2004 showed that intimidation accounted for 31.3 percent; destruction, damage, or vandalism comprised 31.1 percent; simple assault, 19.4 percent; and aggravated assault, 11.5 percent. Another 6.0 percent of the total number of offenses reported included murder, forcible rape, robbery, arson, burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and other offenses. Crimes against society accounted for 0.7 percent of hate crime offenses. (Based on Table 2.)
Law enforcement agencies reported five bias-motivated murders. Three of those murders resulted from racial bias: two anti-white and one anti-black. One of the five murders resulted from a bias against atheism or agnosticism, and one murder stemmed from a bias against homosexual individuals.
All of the four bias-motivated forcible rapes reported in 2004 stemmed from racial bias. Three were committed because of the offenders’ bias against white individuals; the other was due to bias against black individuals.
In 2004, law enforcement agencies reported 112 bias-motivated robberies. Of these, 42.0 percent were committed because of bias against race; 33.0 percent, sexual-orientation bias; 20.5 percent, ethnicity or national origin bias; 3.6 percent, religious bias; and 0.9 percent, disability bias.
Of the 44 arsons that law enforcement agencies reported as bias-motivated crimes in 2004, racial bias accounted for 40.9 percent; religious bias, 31.8 percent; ethnicity or national origin bias, 15.9 percent; and sexual-orientation bias, 11.4 percent. (See Table 4.)
In 2004, of the reported 9,035 hate crime offenses 5,642 offenses were crimes against persons, and 60 were crimes against society. (Based on Table 2.) By definition, these offenses were directed at individuals and society, respectively. However, crimes against property may have various types of victims. An analysis of the 3,333 crimes in this category by victim type revealed the following: 51.4 percent were directed at individuals, 10.4 percent targeted a business or financial institution, 8.1 percent were against a government or public building, and 7.6 percent were aimed at a religious organization. Agencies categorized 22.5 percent of the crimes against property as being directed toward the victim-type category other/unknown/multiple. (Based on Table 6.)
In this publication, the term victim may refer to an individual, a business, an institution, or society as a whole. Law enforcement agencies throughout the Nation reported that there were 9,528 hate crime victims of 9,035 offenses within 7,649 incidents during 2004. Of the 9,528 victims, 9,514 were involved in single-bias incidents, and 14 victims were involved in 7 multiple-bias incidents. (See Table 1.) The following is a summary of victim data as reported by participating agencies.
An examination of the data for victims of single-bias incidents indicated that most, 53.8 percent, were victims of hate crimes that were racially motivated. In addition, 16.7 percent of hate crime victims were targets of a religious bias; 15.6 percent, a sexual-orientation bias; 13.2 percent, an ethnicity or national origin bias; and 0.8 percent, a disability bias.
Racial bias motivated crimes against 5,119 hate crime victims of single-bias incidents. Nearly 68 percent (67.9) of the victims were the object of an anti-black bias. Slightly more than 20 percent (20.1) were victims of an anti-white bias, 5.2 percent were victimized because of an anti-Asian or Pacific Islander bias, and 2.0 percent were victims due to an anti-American Indian or Alaskan native bias. Victims of anti-multiple races bias, i.e., groups in which more than one race was represented, comprised 4.9 percent of hate crime victims.
In 2004, law enforcement agencies reported that there were 1,586 victims of crimes motivated by a religious bias (single-bias incidents only). Most (67.8 percent) were victimized because of an anti-Jewish bias. An anti-Islamic bias motivated offenses against 12.7 percent of victims, and an anti-Catholic bias provoked crimes against 4.3 percent. Victims of an anti-Protestant bias made up 3.0 percent of victims of hate crimes resulting from a religious bias; other religions, 9.3 percent; and multiple religions, group, 2.5 percent. The remaining 0.4 percent of hate crime victims were targeted because of the offender’s anti-Atheism or anti-Agnosticism bias.
In terms of single-bias incidents motivated by a sexual-orientation bias, law enforcement reported 1,482 victims, most of which (60.9 percent) were victims of crimes motivated by an anti-male homosexual bias. In addition, 21.2 percent of victims were targets of an anti-homosexual (male and female) bias. Slightly more than 14 percent (14.3) were victims of an anti-female homosexual bias, 2.4 percent were victimized because of an anti-heterosexual bias, and 1.2 percent were targets of an anti-bisexual bias.
Law enforcement agencies reported that 1,254 victims of single-bias incidents were targeted because of ethnicity or national origin. Of these, 51.5 percent were victimized because of an anti-Hispanic bias, and 48.5 percent were victimized because of a bias against other ethnicities or national origins. (Based on Table 1.)
In 2004, 73 victims in single-bias incidents were the object of a disability bias. Of these, 49 were victimized because of an anti-mental disability bias, and 24 were targeted because of an anti-physical disability bias. (See Table 1.)
A review of the data for the 9,528 hate crime victims reported for 2004 showed that 59.2 percent were victims of crimes against persons, 40.2 percent were victims of crimes against property, and 0.6 percent were victims of crimes against society.
During 2004, there were 5,642 victims of crimes against persons. Slightly more than half (50.1 percent) were victims of intimidation. Thirty-one percent were victims of simple assault, and 18.4 percent were victims of aggravated assault. Murder victims and forcible rape victims each accounted for 0.1 percent of crimes against persons. The remaining 0.3 percent were victims of other types of crimes against persons. (Based on Table 2.)
In regard to crimes against property, there were 3,826 victims. Of these, 84.2 percent were the object of destruction, damage or vandalism. Victims of larceny-theft accounted for 4.9 percent; burglary, 4.4 percent; robbery, 3.7 percent; arson, 1.5 percent; and motor vehicle theft, 0.4 percent. One percent of victims were the object of other types of property crime. (Based on Table 2.) Sixty victims were the target of crimes against society. (See Table 2.)
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 him or her from an unknown offender. Reporting agencies specify the number of offenders and, when possible, the apparent race of the offender or offenders as a group.
Law enforcement agencies identified 7,145 known offenders in 7,649 bias-motivated incidents. (See Table 1.) Of the known offenders, 60.6 percent were white and 19.7 percent were black. Groups made up of individuals of various races (multiple races, group) accounted for 5.1 percent of known offenders. Persons whom law enforcement identified as Asian or Pacific Islanders made up 1.0 percent, and American Indian or Alaskan Natives comprised 0.7 percent of known offenders. Nearly 13 percent (12.9) of known offenders were of an unknown race. (Based on Table 9.)
In 2004, a total of 5,710 known offenders committed crimes against persons: 38.4 percent of known offenders carried out simple assault, 38.1 percent committed intimidation, and 23.0 percent committed aggravated assault.
Of the 1,711 known offenders who perpetrated a crime against property, 65.2 percent inflicted destruction, damage, or vandalism, and 14.1 percent committed robbery. In addition, 7.8 percent committed larceny-theft. Regarding crimes against society, 75 known offenders committed 60 offenses. (Based on Table 2.)
Reporting agencies may specify the location of a hate crime incident as one of 25 location types. An examination of hate crime incidents reported in 2004 indicated that of the 7,649 incidents, 31.7 percent occurred in or near residences or homes, and 18.3 percent occurred on highways, roads, alleys, or streets. Nearly 12 percent (11.7) of hate crimes happened at schools or colleges; 5.6 percent took place in parking lots or garages; and 4.1 percent occurred at churches, synagogues, or temples. In addition, 11.0 percent of hate crimes took place at unspecified locations, and 17.6 percent occurred at various other locations. (Based on Table 10.)
An examination of the 4,042 single-bias incidents spurred by a racial bias indicated that 32.7 percent of the incidents occurred at residences or homes; 20.3 percent took place on highways, roads, alleys, or streets; and 12.2 percent happened at schools or colleges.
Of the 1,374 incidents stemming from a religious bias, 26.6 percent took place at residences or homes; 17.2 percent occurred at churches, synagogues, or temples; and 13.4 percent happened at schools or colleges.
Thirty-four percent of the 1,197 single-bias incidents that were motivated by a sexual-orientation bias occurred at residences or homes. Nearly one-fourth (24.9 percent) of the incidents happened on highways, roads, alleys, or streets; and 12.5 percent occurred at schools or colleges.
Concerning the 972 hate crime incidents prompted by a bias against an ethnicity or national origin, 31.4 percent took place at residences or homes; 19.5 percent happened on highways, roads, alleys, or streets; and 7.0 percent occurred at schools or colleges. (Based on Table 10.)
Fifty-seven hate crime incidents were motivated by a disability bias: 25 occurred at residences or homes; 9 happened on highways, roads, alleys, or streets; 3 took place in convenience stores; 2 happened at schools or colleges; and 18 took place at other various or unknown locations.
With regard to the 7 hate crime incidents resulting from multiple biases, 2 occurred in parking lots or garages; 2 happened at schools or colleges; 1 took place at a church, synagogue, or temple; 1 happened at a residence or home; and 1 incident occurred at multiple locations. (See Table 10.)