Victims
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In the Uniform Crime Reporting Program, the victim of a hate crime may be an individual, a business, an institution, or society as a whole. The Nation’s law enforcement agencies reported that there were 9,691 victims of hate crimes in 2008. Eight of these victims were victimized in 3 separate multiple-bias incidents.
By bias motivation
An analysis of data for victims of single-bias hate crime incidents showed that:
- 51.0 percent were victimized because of the offender’s bias against a race.
- 17.9 percent were targeted because of a bias against a religious belief.
- 17.6 percent were victims because of a bias against a particular sexual orientation.
- 12.7 percent were targeted because of a bias against an ethnicity/national origin.
- 0.9 percent were victimized because of a bias against a disability. (Based on Table 1.)
Racial bias
More than half of the single-bias hate crimes were racially motivated. Of the 4,934 victims of these racial bias crimes:
- 72.9 percent were victims of an offender’s anti-black bias.
- 16.8 percent were victims because of an anti-white bias.
- 3.4 percent were targeted because of an anti-Asian/Pacific Islander bias.
- 1.3 percent were victims because of an anti-American Indian/Alaskan Native bias.
- 5.6 percent were victims because of a bias against a group of individuals in which more than one race was represented (anti-multiple races, group). (Based on Table 1.)
Religious bias
Of the 1,732 victims of anti-religious hate crimes:
- 66.1 percent were targeted because of an offender’s anti-Jewish bias.
- 7.5 percent were victims because of an anti-Islamic bias.
- 5.1 percent were victims because of an anti-Catholic bias.
- 3.6 percent were victims because of an anti-Protestant bias.
- 0.8 percent were targeted because of an anti-Atheist/Agnostic bias.
- 12.8 percent were victims because of a bias against other religions (anti-other religion).
- 4.0 percent were victims because of a bias against groups of individuals of varying religions (anti-multiple religions, group). (Based on Table 1.)
Sexual-orientation bias
Offenders targeted 1,706 victims due to a sexual-orientation bias, and of these:
- 57.5 percent were victims of an offender’s anti-male homosexual bias.
- 27.3 percent were victims because of an anti-homosexual bias.
- 11.6 percent were victims because of an anti-female homosexual bias.
- 2.0 percent were victims because of an anti-heterosexual bias.
- 1.6 percent were victims because of an anti-bisexual bias. (Based on Table 1.)
Ethnicity/national origin bias
Hate crimes motivated by the offender’s bias toward a particular ethnicity/national origin were directed at 1,226 victims. Of these:
- 64.6 percent were victims of an anti-Hispanic bias.
- 35.4 percent were targeted because of a bias against other ethnicities/national origins. (Based on Table 1.)
Disability bias
Offenders targeted 85 victims of a hate crime due to a bias against a disability, and of these:
- 57 were victims of an anti-mental disability bias.
- 28 were victims of an anti-physical disability bias. (See Table 1.)
By crime category
Of the 9,691 victims of a hate crime, 57.2 percent were victims of crimes against persons, and 42.6 percent were victims of crimes against property. The remaining percentage were victims of crimes against society. (Based on Table 2.)
By offense type
Crimes against persons
In 2008, 5,542 victims of hate crimes were victims of crimes against persons. Regarding these victims and the crimes committed against them:
- 7 persons were murdered, and 11 were forcibly raped.
- 48.8 percent of the victims were intimidated.
- 32.1 percent were victims of simple assault.
- 18.5 percent were victims of aggravated assault.
- Less than one percent (0.3) were victims of other types of offenses, which are collected only in the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS). (Based on Table 2.)
Crimes against property
In 2008, 4,131 victims of hate crimes were victims of crimes against property. Of these:
- 81.9 percent were victims of destruction/damage/vandalism.
- 5.9 percent were victims of larceny-theft.
- 4.5 percent were victims of burglary.
- 4.4 percent were victims of robbery.
- 2.0 percent were victims of arson.
- 0.6 percent were victims of motor vehicle theft.
- 0.8 percent were victims of other types of offenses, which are collected only in the NIBRS. (Based on Table 2.)
Crimes against society
Eighteen victims of hate crimes were victims of crimes against society. (See Table 2.)