Report shows nearly 23% increase in religion-based hate crimes last year and 37% spike in anti-Jewish hate crimes

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

The FBI says hate crimes reports were up about 17% in 2017, marking a rise for the third year in a row, even though violent crime in America fell slightly overall. Crimes of antisemitism led the spike.

An annual report from the US federal government released on Tuesday shows there were more than 7,100 reported hate crimes last year. There were increases in attacks motivated by racial bias, religious bias and because of a victim’s sexual orientation.

The report shows there was a nearly 23% increase in religion-based hate crimes. There was a 37% spike in anti-Jewish hate crimes.

The acting attorney general, Matthew Whitaker, said the report is a “call to action”. He said the offenses were “despicable violations of our core values as Americans”.

Sign up for the new US morning briefing

The FBI said although the number of attacks has increased, so has the number of law enforcement agencies reporting hate crime data.

“The Department of Justice’s top priority is to reduce violent crime in America, and hate crimes are violent crimes. They are also despicable violations of our core values as Americans,” Whitaker said in a statement.

He continued: “I am particularly troubled by the increase in antisemitic hate crimes – which were already the most common religious hate crimes in the United States – that is well documented in this report.”

The FBI released the latest data compiled via its uniform crime reporting (UCR) program about bias-motivated incidents throughout the nation. The 2017 data, submitted by 16,149 law enforcement agencies (up from 15,254 agencies in 2016), provide information about the offenses, victims, offenders and locations of hate crimes, the FBI said.

There were 7,106 single-bias incidents involving 8,493 victims, the FBI reported on Tuesday.

Almost 60% of victims were targeted because of bias against race, ethnicity or ancestry bias. A fifth were targeted because of the offenders’ religious bias and 15.8% were victimized because of the offenders’ sexual-orientation bias. Just under 2% of victims documented in the report were targeted because of a disability or a bias against gender identity.

The hate crimes ranged from murder to vandalism and also included rape, robbery and assault.