Most Wanted News: Poughkeepsie, New York

Hate Crimes on the Rise

FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting Program, published the "2006 Hate Crime Statistics," showing an increase in hate crimes last year.

November 19, 2007

POUGHKEEPSIE NY NEWS -- On Monday, November 19, 2007, the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting Program, published the "2006 Hate Crime Statistics," showing an increase in hate crimes last year. The report includes data from hate crime reports submitted by law enforcement agencies throughout the nation. The statistics revealed that 7,722 criminal incidents involving 9,080 offenses were reported in 2006 as a result of bias against a particular race, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity/national origin, or physical or mental disability.

Racial bias is still the number one motivating force causing hate crime, and only 1percent of hate crimes involves bias against a disability. An analysis of the 7,720 single-bias incidents by bias motivation showed:

51.8 percent were motivated by a racial bias
18.9 percent were motivated by a religious bias
15.5 percent were triggered by a sexual-orientation bias
12.7 percent of the incidents were motivated by an ethnicity/national origin bias

According to the 2006 data on hate crime offenses, the race of the 7,330 known offenders were:

58.6 percent were white
20.6 percent were black
12.9 percent were unknown

The good news is of the 5,449 hate crime offenses classified as crimes against persons in 2006. Only three murder and nonnegligent manslaughter offenses, as well as six forcible rapes, were reported as hate crimes. While intimidations accounted for 46 percent, simple assaults for 31.9 percent, and aggravated assaults for 21.6 percent.

There were 3,593 hate crime offenses classified as crimes against property. Eighty-one percent were acts of damage, destruction, or vandalism. The remaining 19 percent of crimes against property consisted of:

robbery
burglary
larceny-theft
motor vehicle theft
arson
other crimes

Interestingly, the majority, 31 percent, of hate crime incidents in 2006 occurred in or near residences or homes, and 28.8 percent occurred at random locations. The report does specify that the rest of the hate crimes occurred near:

18 percent on highways, roads, alleys, or streets
12.2 percent at colleges or schools
6.1 percent in parking lots or garages
3.9 percent at churches, synagogues, or temples

Since crime is a sociological phenomenon influenced by a variety of factors, the FBI discourages data users from ranking agencies and using the data as a measurement of law enforcement effectiveness. However, with 46% and 31% of the hate crimes being intimidations and simple assaults, which the majority occurred near residential homes, it can be assumed that many of these hate crimes are probably being committed by law abiding citizens. Therefore, ignorance and lack of civic duty are still the driving force behind the majority of these hate crimes. To view the full 2006 Hate Crime Statistics Report visit: www.fbi.gov/ucr/hc2006/index.html

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