What is a Hate Crime?

“Hate crimes” are defined as crimes that are hostile, targeting a person merely as a result of his or her disability, race or ethnicity, religion or belief, sexual orientation or transgender identity.

And they are on the rise.

Hate crimes in the U.S. rose to the highest level in more than a decade last year, according to an FBI report.

Hate crimes have been increasing in the U.S. almost every year since 2014. Campaign groups warn this comes amid rising bigotry and racist rhetoric.

According to a study from California State University, Long Beach, anti-Asian hate crimes surged 145 percent in 2020.

The Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at Cal State San Bernardino reports that hate crimes against Asian-Americans in Los Angeles more than doubled from 2019 to 2020.

The FBI categorizes hate crimes as a traditional offense like murder, arson or vandalism with an added element of bias.

For the purposes of collecting statistics, the FBI has defined a hate crime as a “criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity,” according to FBI.gov.

Hate itself is not a crime—and the FBI is mindful of protecting freedom of speech and other civil liberties.

As for hate crimes, they are of the highest priority of the FBI’s civil rights program because of the devastating impact they have on families and communities.

Traditionally, FBI investigations of hate crimes were limited to crimes in which the perpetrators acted based on a bias against the victim’s race, color, religion or national origin. In addition, investigations were restricted to those wherein the victim was engaged in a federally protected activity. With the passage of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009, the Bureau became authorized to also investigate crimes committed against those based on biases of actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or gender.

The FBI has gathered and published hate crime statistics every year since 1992. In 2019, the last year FBI statistics are available, 7,103 single-bias incidents were reported as follows:

• 55.8 percent were motivated by a race/ethnicity/ancestry bias.

• 21.4 percent were prompted by religious bias.

• 16.8 percent resulted from sexual-orientation bias.

• 2.8 percent were motivated by gender-identity bias.

• 2.2 percent were prompted by disability bias.

• 1.0 percent were motivated by gender bias.

—from FBI.gov