Minor Uptick in Reported Number of Hate Crimes

The number of reported hate crimes across the country changed little in 2003, according to FBI figures released Monday.

The largest number of the 7,489 hate crimes in 2003 involved incidents against blacks, the FBI said. The total was up slightly from the 7,462 in 2002.

More than half the reported hate crimes last year targeted specific racial groups. Of the 3,844 incidents in that category, 2,548 were against blacks, 830 against whites, 231 against Asians and Pacific Islanders, and 76 against American Indians and Alaskan Natives.

Religious intolerance was the motivation for 1,343 incidents, the FBI found. The majority of the attacks -- 927 -- targeted Jews, about the same number as in 2002. Attacks against Muslims were down from 155 in 2002 to 149 last year; two years before, after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, 481 hate crimes against Muslims were reported.

The number of attacks based on sexual orientation -- 1,239 in 2003 -- was almost the same as the 1,244 reported in 2002. Bias against ethnicity or national origin was cited in 1,026 attacks, including 426 incidents targeting Hispanics. Both figures were down slightly from the previous year.

The remaining crimes were against disabled individuals; 33 incidents were reported in 2003.

Intimidation, property destruction and vandalism -- defined as “crimes against property” -- made up nearly two-thirds of all incidents, including 107 robberies and 34 arsons. The rest, defined as “crimes against persons,” included intimidation and various forms of assault, including five rapes and 14 murders -- six motivated by sexual orientation, five by race, two by ethnicity or national origin, and one by disability.

Nearly a third of the incidents occurred near a home, and almost 12% were at a school or college campus. More than 62% of the reported offenders were white; just over 18% were black.

With the exception of 2001, the reported numbers of hate crimes have remained relatively stable since 1995, the first year for which the statistics were published. In 2001, 9,730 incidents were reported, with a surge in attacks against Muslims.

But groups that monitor hate crimes said the FBI’s tally probably underestimated the total because it could not compel law enforcement agencies to report crime statistics.

Of the nearly 17,000 agencies that report crime data to the FBI, 11,909 provided information specifically identifying hate crimes. More than 83% of the agencies reported no incidents, including in such cities as Oakland, Tallahassee and Baltimore.

Agencies in California reported 1,472 incidents in 2003, a drop of 176 from the previous year. Los Angeles County accounted for 33.

“It’s not the number that matters to us. What matters is the response to each and every hate crime,” said Michael Lieberman, Washington counsel for the Anti-Defamation League, a New York-based organization that monitors bigotry and anti-Semitism. “And what we’ve found is that law enforcement agencies that take reporting seriously also take responding seriously.”

Heidi L. Beirich of the Southern Poverty Law Center, a Montgomery, Ala.-based group that tracks hate crimes, said the center’s research of uncounted hate crimes indicated that the actual number could be three to four times greater than the FBI’s statistics.

“The biggest problem of all is that the reporting of hate crimes is voluntary,” Beirich said.