FBI Hate Crime Statistics Released

The FBI has recently released the hate crime statistics for the year 2008.  Racially based hate crimes continue to outnumber all other hate crimes and show just how much still needs to be done.  Hate crimes attributed to sexual orientation were fewer than those attributed to religion.  5.1% of those crimes were anti-Catholic in origin.  Statistics show crimes reported were perpetrated against person or property - and sometimes both.  I will just report, you decide.

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. 

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).

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). 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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).
  

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.
  

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Check out this tidbit on Moveon.org's anti-Catholic bend.

See this previous +Ponderings+ entry on the history of anti-Catholicism in the U.S.