New FBI Hate Crimes Report Shows Increase in Anti-LGBT+ Attacks
A new FBI hate crimes report has been released, showing increasingly high levels of hate crimes, and an increase in those targeting LGBT+ people.
The report shows that hate crimes based on sexual orientation represent 16.7% of hate crimes, the third-largest category after race and religion. The report also shows an uptick in gender identity-based hate crimes rising from 2.2% in 2018 to 2.7% in 2019.
What's more, since reporting hate crimes to the FBI is not mandatory, these alarming statistics likely represent only a fraction of such violence. The number of law enforcement agencies reporting hate crimes data decreased by 451 from 2018 to 2019.
71 cities with populations exceeding 100,000 either did not report data to the FBI or affirmatively reported zero hate crimes which not coincided to be credible. The lack of mandatory reporting means that the FBI data, while helpful, paints an incomplete picture of hate crimes against the LGBT+ and other communities, as ‘Human Right Campaign’ writes.
It’s not only LGBT+ people who are affected by this epidemic of violence. Bias-motivated crimes based on race, religion, disability and gender remain at incredibly high levels. Racially-motivated crime remains the most common hate crime, with nearly half of race-based hate crimes targeting Black people. For the fourth year in a row, there was a significant uptick in hate crimes targeting the Latinx community, increasing 9% from last year. Crimes involving religion-based bias increased with crimes targeting Jewish people and Jewish institutions rising 14% and anti-Muslim hate crimes rising 16%.
Alphonso David, President of the Human Rights Campaign which has worked with the FBI to update the agency’s crime reporting stated: “Yet another year with alarming levels of bias-motivated crimes underscores just how urgent it is to address this hate crimes epidemic. This year, we saw a tragic new record of fatal violence against transgender and gender non-conforming people in this country, particularly against Black and Brown transgender women. These alarming statistics represent real trauma for individuals and families across this country who have to bear the brunt of these hate crimes. As the Biden-Harris administration assumes office, we must recommit ourselves to advocating for mandatory hate crimes reporting across the country, better training for law enforcement officers to recognize bias-motivated crimes, and greater inclusion and equity in our communities.”
Read related myGwork articles here:
EU Launches LGBT+ Rights Plan To Counter Rising Homophobia In Member States
Homophobic Hate Crimes Hit Record High In Scotland
Hate Crimes Against Trans People Rises 81% in UK
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