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FBI Hate Crimes Awareness Campaign Reaches Millions of Americans
“Hate crimes are the highest priority of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) civil rights program because of the devastating impact they have on families and communities. These crimes are not only an attack on the victim—they are meant to threaten and intimidate an entire community.”
The United States has a hate crime problem.
The latest FBI hate crime report documented the highest number of hate crimes ever recorded, including the highest number of race-based crimes. The annual tally of reported hate crimes has risen steadily since 2014, but this doesn’t capture the severity of the problem. Most incidents go unreported, making it difficult to find meaningful solutions to this systemic problem.
A hate crime is defined by the FBI as a violent or property crime – such as murder, arson, assault or vandalism – that is “motivated in whole or in part by an offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender or gender identity.”
This year, the Southern Poverty Law Center is designating October as Hate Crimes Awareness Month and leading a national conversation about how to prevent hate and foster an inclusive democracy where each of us feels safe and welcome in our communities. Throughout the month, the SPLC be sharing the important research, analysis and policy recommendations that form our hate crime prevention strategy.
The United States has a long history of racial discrimination and violence, so the creation of any hate crime prevention strategy will be difficult — but, hopefully, not impossible. The conscientious people of these United States must free all communities from the terror of hate crimes. This starts with addressing the chronic under-reporting of hate crimes.
The FBI’s hate crimes report, mandated under the Hate Crime Statistics Act of 1990, is compiled from the voluntary submissions of the 18,000 federal, state, university, city and tribal law enforcement authorities across the country. Due to the voluntary nature of these reports authorities aren’t required to report any data — and many choose not to. For example, over 3,000 agencies did not report any data to the FBI in 2021, and dozens of other cities with populations over 100,000 affirmatively reported zero hate crimes. Yeah, right.
This lack of participation does a grave disservice to the victims of hate crimes. The harm these crimes cause to victims and their communities can never be reduced to mere numbers. But we cannot adequately address a problem without accurately measuring it. The solution is clear — the federal government must require full and accurate reporting of all hate crimes.
While enforcement is critical, the ultimate goal must be to prevent hate crimes, end the modern-day threat, and ensure future prevention of such criminal acts in the United States.
All Americans must remember that with every hate crime there is a victim of violence, intimidation or vandalism who was targeted for no other reason than their race, religion, national origin, gender, gender identity, disability, or sexual orientation. In the U.S. no one should fear for their safety because of who they are or where they were born.
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FBI Hate Crimes Awareness Campaign Reaches Millions of Americans
“Hate crimes are the highest priority of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) civil rights program because of the devastating impact they have on families and communities. These crimes are not only an attack on the victim—they are meant to threaten and intimidate an entire community.”
The United States has a hate crime problem.
The latest FBI hate crime report documented the highest number of hate crimes ever recorded, including the highest number of race-based crimes. The annual tally of reported hate crimes has risen steadily since 2014, but this doesn’t capture the severity of the problem. Most incidents go unreported, making it difficult to find meaningful solutions to this systemic problem.
A hate crime is defined by the FBI as a violent or property crime – such as murder, arson, assault or vandalism – that is “motivated in whole or in part by an offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender or gender identity.”
This year, the Southern Poverty Law Center is designating October as Hate Crimes Awareness Month and leading a national conversation about how to prevent hate and foster an inclusive democracy where each of us feels safe and welcome in our communities. Throughout the month, the SPLC be sharing the important research, analysis and policy recommendations that form our hate crime prevention strategy.
The United States has a long history of racial discrimination and violence, so the creation of any hate crime prevention strategy will be difficult — but, hopefully, not impossible. The conscientious people of these United States must free all communities from the terror of hate crimes. This starts with addressing the chronic under-reporting of hate crimes.
The FBI’s hate crimes report, mandated under the Hate Crime Statistics Act of 1990, is compiled from the voluntary submissions of the 18,000 federal, state, university, city and tribal law enforcement authorities across the country. Due to the voluntary nature of these reports authorities aren’t required to report any data — and many choose not to. For example, over 3,000 agencies did not report any data to the FBI in 2021, and dozens of other cities with populations over 100,000 affirmatively reported zero hate crimes. Yeah, right.
This lack of participation does a grave disservice to the victims of hate crimes. The harm these crimes cause to victims and their communities can never be reduced to mere numbers. But we cannot adequately address a problem without accurately measuring it. The solution is clear — the federal government must require full and accurate reporting of all hate crimes.
While enforcement is critical, the ultimate goal must be to prevent hate crimes, end the modern-day threat, and ensure future prevention of such criminal acts in the United States.
All Americans must remember that with every hate crime there is a victim of violence, intimidation or vandalism who was targeted for no other reason than their race, religion, national origin, gender, gender identity, disability, or sexual orientation. In the U.S. no one should fear for their safety because of who they are or where they were born.
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