World Hate Crimes in the U.S.: Who Bears the Brunt?

Hate Crimes in the U.S.: Who Bears the Brunt?​

HATE CRIME​

by Florian Zandt,
Jan 26, 2024

According to statistics released by the FBI, reported hate crimes in the U.S. in 2022 were up year over year both in terms of incidents as well as victims. While official numbers show that most of the crimes were committed due to an underlying anti-Black bias, there is a religious group that is seen to face even more grave problems connected to hate crime.

Our chart based on YouGov survey data published by The Economist shows that almost two thirds of all respondents surveyed online in early December 2023 thought that crimes motivated by the race or ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, disability or gender of the victims were a somewhat or very serious problem for Jewish people. In the age cohorts of 45 to 64 and 65 and older, 70 and 79 percent, respectively, thought that these types of crimes committed against Jews were a serious issue. 63 percent of survey participants thought that Black individuals face serious problems in terms of hate crimes committed against the group, while 59 and 55 percent perceived hate crimes against Muslim and Arab people, respectively, as a serious issue.

The survey results suggest that younger people in the age bracket of 18 to 29 generally see crimes motivated by racial or religious issues as a more serious problem for Arabs, Muslims and Black people than for Jews. U.S. adults aged 30 and over tend to think that Jewish people are more impacted by hate crimes. Nevertheless, these types of crimes are consistently seen as a more serious issue when it comes to minorities in every age bracket; only 37 percent of overall respondents thought hate crimes against Christians were a serious issue, while around 32 percent claimed that such crimes committed against white people were a somewhat or very serious problem.

Hate Crime Victims Most Often Targeted For Race or Ethnicity​

HATE CRIMES​

by Katharina Buchholz,
Jan 26, 2024

Based on a new reporting system, the Federal Bureau of Investigations has calculated an increase in hate crimes in the U.S. between 2021 and 2022. Considering all reporting law enforcement agencies in 2022, the FBI counted 11,613 hate crime incidents and 15,306 victims, up from 10,857 and 14,170, respectively, in 2021.

Looking at all 2022 victims, a majority of them were targeted due to their race or ethnicity, according to the report, with anti-Black crime being the most common offense comprising 29 percent of hate crimes by bias. Religion was the next biggest factor, with roughly 17 percent being victimized because of it - slightly more than for reasons of sexual orientation (16.8 percent). Here, anti-Jewish and anti-gay hate crimes were the most common. The report concludes that 32 percent of hate crimes were against property, most commonly vandalism or other damage. 66 percent of crimes were directed towards persons. The most frequently recorded type was intimidation, while at 3,179 and 1,603 incidents, simple and aggravated assault were also shockingly common.

In 2020, the FBI debuted its new crime reporting system which is able to capture more nuances - for example listing several and not just one offense per incident, the latter having led to hate crimes being undercounted in the past. However, in 2020, the system change led to many law enforcement agencies not reporting figures at all, creating limited comparability between the 2020 and 2021 gross counts (as well as with the previous years due to the changes in reporting detail).