ircart/pp4l/hatecrime.txt

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Shay Bilchik, Administrator .
Fact Sheet #29 August 1995
Hate Crime
Eric Bishop and Jeff Slowikowski
Hate crime, also known as bias crime, has been
defined by the Department of Justice.s Community
Relations Service (CRS) as :
A criminal offense committed against a person or
property which is motivated, in whole or in part,
by the offender's bias against a race, religion,
ethnic/national origin, or sexual orientation
group.
In 1990, Congress enacted the Hate Crimes
Statistics Act, mandating the Attorney General to
collect data on the numbers of crimes committed
annually in the United States that are motivated
by hate. The Attorney General has directed the
Federal Bureau of Investigation.s (FBI) Uniform
Crime Reporting Program to conduct the data
collection and issue an annual report. The FBI
reported 7,587 bias motivated criminal incidents
with 8,987 offenses and 9,372 victims for the year
1993. The FBI notes that hate crimes are not
distinct offenses, but rather traditional crimes
motivated by bias.
The Nature of Hate Crime
In 1993, intimidation accounted for 34% of the
8,987 reported offenses with destruction of
property or vandalism accounting for 26%, followed
by simple assaults at 20%, and aggravated assaults
at 16% (Table 1). There were 16 murders and 17
rapes reported in 1993 that were motivated by
hate. In these offenses, the most common
motivation was race (64.4%), followed by religion
(15.1%), sexual orientation (11.1%) and
ethnicity/national origin (9.4%) (Table 2).
TABLE 1. Hate and Bias Incidents, Offenses,
Victims and Known Offenders by Category in 1993.
Incidents Offenses
Total 7,587 8,987
Offense Category
Person Crimes: 4,981 6,293
Murder 11 16
Forcible Rape 13 15
Assault
Aggravated 1,044 1,452
Simple 1,462 1,754
Intimidation 2,451 3,056
Property Crimes: 2,580 2,666
Robbery 157 161
Burglary 84 88
Larceny-theft 55 61
Auto Theft 9 9
Arson 53 53
Vandalism 2,222 2,294
Other: 26 28
TABLE 1 continued
Known
Victims Offenders
Total 9,372 8,610
Offense Category
Person Crimes: 6,293 7,051
Murder 16 22
Forcible Rape 15 17
Assault
Aggravated 1,452 2,395
Simple 1,754 2,491
Intimidation 3,056 2,126
Property Crimes:
Robbery 202 378
Burglary 104 38
Larceny-theft 71 48
Auto Theft 9 9
Arson 61 36
Vandalism 2,604 1,011
Other: 28 39
Source: Hate Crime Statistics 1993, Federal
Bureau of Investigation
Note: An incident is a single event recorded by
law enforcement. Each incident can have multiple
offenses and multiple offenders.
The Victims of Hate Crime
There were 9,372 victims of hate crimes in 1993.
Of this number, 85% were individuals with the
remaining 15% being businesses, organizations, or
other property. Table 2 shows that within the
Race category, blacks were the victims of 59.2%
of the crimes committed, while whites were the
victims in 30.8% of the crimes. In the
Ethnicity/National Origin category, 71.8% of the
hate crimes were committed against Hispanics. In
the Religion category, the majority of the
victims were of the Jewish faith (87.9%). Within
the Sexual Orientation category, 68.6% of the
victims were male homosexuals and 14.7% were
female homosexuals.
TABLE 2. Hate Crime Incidents, Offenses, Victims
and Known Offenders by Bias Motivation, 1993.
Incidents Offenses
Total 7,587 8,987
Bias Motivation
Race: 4,732 5,786
Anti-White 1,471 1,814
Anti-Black 2,815 3,410
Anti-American Indian/ 27 39
Alaskan Native
Anti-Asian/Pacific 258 297
Islander
Anti-Multi-Racial 161 226
Ethnicity/National 697 845
Origin:
Anti-Hispanic 472 596
Anti-Other Ethnicity 225 249
Religion: 1,298 1,358
Anti-Jewish 1,143 1,197
Anti-Catholic 32 33
Anti-Protestant 30 30
Anti-Islamic 13 15
Anti-Other Religion 63 66
Anti-Multi-Religious 14 14
Anti-Atheism/ 3 3
Agnosticism/etc.
Sexual Orientation: 860 998
Homosexual
Anti-Male 615 699
Anti-Female 121 147
Anti-Homosexual 94 122
Anti-Heterosexual 28 28
Anti-Bisexual 2 2
TABLE 2 continued
Known
Victims Offenders
Total 9,372 8,610
Bias Motivation
Race: 6,011 6,258
Anti-White 1,853 2,890
Anti-Black 3,559 2,845
Anti-American Indian/ 43 49
Alaskan Native
Anti-Asian/Pacific 316 291
Islander
Anti-Multi-Racial 240 183
Ethnicity/National 895 814
Origin:
Anti-Hispanic 643 653
Anti-Other Ethnicity 252 161
Religion: 1,423 461
Anti-Jewish 1,252 371
Anti-Catholic 33 16
Anti-Protestant 38 13
Anti-Islamic 15 11
Anti-Other Religion 68 21
Anti-Multi-Religious 14 26
Anti-Atheism/ 3 3
Agnosticism/etc.
Sexual Orientation: 1,043 1,077
Homosexual
Anti-Male 716 834
Anti-Female 154 106
Anti-Homosexual 143 110
Anti-Heterosexual 28 26
Anti-Bisexual 2 1
Source: Hate Crime Statistics 1993, Federal
Bureau of Investigation
Note: An incident is a single event recorded by
law enforcement. Each incident can have multiple
offenses and multiple offenders.
Hate Crime Data Collection
Current data on juvenile involvement in the
perpetration of hate crimes is limited.
Victimization information is not available. No
empirical data identified the extent or impact of
hate crimes on juveniles. The FBI's Uniform Crime
Reports - Hate Crime Statistics for 1993 does not
specify the age of the offender. The FBI.s new
data collection system, The National Incident
Based Reporting System (NIBRS), will be more
specific as to exact demographics, including the
age of both the victim and offender, but is still
several years away from implementation. Another
common source for crime data, the Bureau of
Justice Statistics' (BJS) National Crime
Victimization Survey (NCVS) , does not identify
motives for the crimes reported. It also contains
no information with regard to the offender.
The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency
Prevention's Role in Hate Crime
The Administrator of the Office of Juvenile
Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), in
accordance with sections 248(b)(7)(A) and
261(a)(9) of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency
Prevention Act of 1974, as amended, has initiated
two projects on hate crimes involving juveniles.
The projects, The Juvenile Hate Crime Study and
Hate Crime Prevention: A Juvenile Justice
Approach, were initially funded in 1993.
Juvenile Hate Crime Study
The Juvenile Hate Crime Study, conducted by West
Virginia University's Dr. Richard Ball and David
Curry, is a research project designed to
standardize the complex issues in defining hate
crimes. It is also studying the quality and
availability of statistics pertaining to the
involvement of juveniles, either as offenders or
victims, in hate crimes. Preliminary findings
indicate that only six states, and seven major
cities within those states, maintain crime related
data that specifies the age of the offender in
hate crimes.
The data reviewed from the six states revealed a
wide variance in the percentage of hate crimes
that can be attributed to juveniles (8.5% to
62.6%). A juvenile is defined as a person under
the age of 18. In the seven major cities,
juveniles were identified as the offender in a
hate crime in 8.3% to 42.9% of the offenses. From
the data reviewed in these states and cities, it
can be extrapolated by using robust statistical
techniques that an estimated 17% to 26% of all
hate crimes incidents recorded by law enforcement
can be attributed to juveniles.
Under the OJJDP study, some correlates between
juveniles and hate crime involvement have been
identified. There appears to be a correlation
between involvement in hate crime offending and
gang-related crime. This is most notable with
skinhead gangs and similar hate groups. These
areas are identified by the project as needing
further study.
A 1988 Abt Associates study of hate crime
estimated that half of the individuals arrested
for hate crimes are adolescents and young adults
between 16 and 25 years of age (Finn, P. And
McNeil, T., 1988). In comparison, the FBI
Uniform Crime Reports reported that only 35% of
all arrests in 1993 were adolescents and young
adults between 16-24 years of age.
Juvenile Hate Crime Prevention
The second project, Hate Crime Prevention: A
Juvenile Justice Approach, is being conducted by
the Education Development Center, Inc., (EDC).
EDC's goals are to assist the field in the
implementation of programs to prevent hate crime
and to build awareness in the field of education
and criminal justice to prevent hate crimes. These
goals will be accomplished by developing, pilot
testing and disseminating a hate crime prevention
curriculum. At present, EDC has completed an
assessment of the relevant literature and existing
curricula and surveyed experts in the field. EDC
also established an advisory board of national
experts in the areas of juvenile justice,
education, hate crime research, and victim
assistance to advise and assist in the development
of the curriculum. This developmental effort
resulted in the production of a summary report of
existing programs and a draft educational
curriculum for juveniles.
The EDC curriculum is divided into three different
sections: 1) Introduction and Implementation
Guidelines; 2) Where we are now: Understanding
and Preventing Hate Crime and Incidents; and 3)
How it begins: Understanding the Roots of Hate.
The educational curriculum is designed to prevent
hate crime and offer guidance to juveniles who
commit hate crimes. It consists of 10 forty
minute units. Each unit contains a lesson plan
that includes student learning objectives,
preparation instructions, teaching points,
activities, handouts, lesson goals and purposes.
EDC's curriculum was pilot tested at the Collins
Middle School in Salem, Massachusetts this past
year. EDC is currently reviewing and evaluating
curriculum implementation. Once the evaluation is
completed, the curriculum will undergo a
redesign and be tested in two more sites to
assure the efficacy of the program. If
successful, it will be made available for national
replication.
The products developed from this OJJDP project are
expected to have substantial impact on the
juvenile justice agencies and hate crime
prevention organizations that currently utilize
training mechanisms but do not have the time,
research, or expertise to develop curriculum
materials on hate crime.
References:
Ball, Richard A. and David Curry. (1995).
Hate/Bias Crimes and Juveniles: A National
Assessment. Draft Report submitted to The Office
of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention,
Department of Justice.
Federal Bureau of Investigation. (1993). Hate
Crime Statistics 1993. Uniform Crime Reports.
Finn, P. and T. McNeil. (1988). Bias Crime and
Criminal Justice Response: A Summary Report
Prepared for the National Criminal Justice
Association. Cambridge, MA: Abt Associates, Inc.
McLaughlin, K. and Kelly Brilliant. (1994). Hate
Crime Prevention: A Juvenile Justice Approach.
Educational Development Center, Inc. Draft
Assessment Report Summary submitted to the Office
of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention,
Department of Justice.
This Fact Sheet was prepared by Eric Bishop,
Intern, and Jeff Slowikowski, Program Specialist,
both with OJJDP's Research and Program Development
Division. For further information on hate crimes,
please call Jeff Slowikowski at (202) 307-5929.
FS-9529