Indicator 22: Hate Crime Incidents at Postsecondary Institutions

(Last Updated: July 2020)

Three-fourths (77 percent) of the total reported on-campus hate crimes in 2017 were motivated by race, religion, or sexual orientation. Race was the motivating bias in 43 percent of reported hate crimes (413 incidents); religion was the motivating bias in 18 percent of reported hate crimes (172 incidents); and sexual orientation was the motivating bias in 16 percent of reported hate crimes (154 incidents) in 2017.

A 2008 amendment to the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security and Campus Crime Statistics Act (see Indicator 21,Criminal Incidents at Postsecondary Institutions) requires postsecondary institutions to report hate crime incidents. A hate crime is a criminal offense that is motivated, in whole or in part, by the perpetrator’s bias against the victim(s) based on their race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or disability. In addition to reporting data on hate-related incidents for the seven types of crimes already specified in the Clery Act—murder, sex offenses (forcible and nonforcible), robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, motor vehicle theft, and arson—the 2008 amendment to the Clery Act requires campuses to report hate-related incidents for four additional types of crimes: simple assault; larceny; intimidation; and destruction, damage, and vandalism.

In 2017, of the criminal incidents on the campuses of postsecondary institutions that were reported to police and security agencies, 958 incidents were classified as hate crimes (table 22.1). The three most common types of hate crimes reported by institutions were destruction, damage, and vandalism (437 incidents; hereafter referred to as “vandalism” in this indicator), intimidation (385 incidents), and simple assault (83 incidents). Other reported hate crimes included larceny (24 incidents), aggravated assault (15 incidents), forcible sex offenses (6 incidents), burglary (3 incidents), and robbery (2 incidents), as well as murder, motor vehicle theft, and arson (1 incident each; figure 22.1 and table 22.1). No nonforcible sex offenses were classified as hate crimes in 2017.

Figure 22.1. Number of on-campus hate crimes at degree-granting postsecondary institutions, by selected types of crime: 2010, 2016, and 2017

1 Willfully or maliciously destroying, damaging, defacing, or otherwise injuring real or personal property without the consent of the owner or the person having custody or control of it.

2 Placing another person in reasonable fear of bodily harm through the use of threatening words and/or other conduct, but without displaying a weapon or subjecting the victim to actual physical attack.

3 Physical attack by one person upon another where neither the offender displays a weapon nor the victim suffers obvious severe or aggravated bodily injury involving apparent broken bones, loss of teeth, possible internal injury, severe laceration, or loss of consciousness.

4 Unlawful taking, carrying, leading, or riding away of property from the possession of another.

5 Attack upon a person for the purpose of inflicting severe or aggravated bodily injury.

6 Any sexual act directed against another person forcibly and/or against that person’s will.

7 Unlawful entry of a structure to commit a felony or theft.

8 Taking or attempting to take anything of value using actual or threatened force or violence.

9 Willful or malicious burning or attempt to burn a dwelling house, public building, motor vehicle, or personal property of another.

10 Excludes suicides, fetal deaths, traffic fatalities, accidental deaths, and justifiable homicide (such as the killing of a felon by a law enforcement officer in the line of duty).

11 Theft or attempted theft of a motor vehicle.

NOTE: Data are for degree-granting institutions, which are institutions that grant associate’s or higher degrees and participate in Title IV federal financial aid programs. Some institutions that report Clery Act data—specifically, non-degree-granting institutions and institutions outside of the 50 states and the District of Columbia—are excluded. A hate crime is a criminal offense that is motivated, in whole or in part, by the perpetrator’s bias against a group of people based on their race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or disability. Includes on-campus incidents involving students, staff, and guests. Excludes off-campus crimes and arrests even if they involve students or staff.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Postsecondary Education, Campus Safety and Security Reporting System, 2010, 2016, and 2017.

The distribution of reported on-campus hate crimes in 2017 was similar to the distributions in previous years. For instance, vandalism, intimidation, and simple assault constituted the three most common types of hate crimes reported by institutions in every year from 2010 to 2017. Also, there were no reported incidents of nonforcible sex offenses classified as hate crimes in any year from 2010 to 2017.

Race, religion, and sexual orientation were the top three categories of bias associated with hate crimes at postsecondary institutions in 2017. Three-fourths (77 percent) of the total reported on-campus hate crimes in 2017 were motivated by these three categories of bias. Race was the motivating bias in 43 percent of reported hate crimes (413 incidents); religion was the motivating bias in 18 percent of reported hate crimes (172 incidents); and sexual orientation was the motivating bias in 16 percent of reported hate crimes (154 incidents) in 2017. The other 23 percent of reported hate crimes were motivated by ethnicity (95 incidents), gender (63 incidents), gender identity (51 incidents), and disability (10 incidents).

Similar to the overall pattern, race was also the most frequent category of motivating bias associated with the three most common types of hate crimes reported in 2017—vandalism, intimidation, and simple assault. Race accounted for 43 percent of reported vandalisms classified as hate crimes (186 incidents), 45 percent of reported intimidations (172 incidents), and 48 percent of reported simple assaults (40 incidents; figure 22.2 and table 22.1). The second or the third most frequent motivating bias for these three types of reported hate crimes was either religion or sexual orientation. Religion was the second most frequent motivating bias for reported vandalisms (25 percent; 111 incidents); sexual orientation was the second most frequent motivating bias for reported intimidations (17 percent; 66 incidents) and reported simple assaults (22 percent; 18 incidents). The third most frequent motivating bias for reported vandalisms was sexual orientation (14 percent; 61 incidents); religion was the third most frequent motivating bias for reported intimidations (12 percent; 48 incidents) and reported simple assaults (11 percent; 9 incidents).

Figure 22.2. Number of selected types of on-campus hate crimes at degree-granting postsecondary institutions, by category of bias motivating the crime: 2017

1 Willfully or maliciously destroying, damaging, defacing, or otherwise injuring real or personal property without the consent of the owner or the person having custody or control of it.

2 Placing another person in reasonable fear of bodily harm through the use of threatening words and/or other conduct, but without displaying a weapon or subjecting the victim to actual physical attack.

3 Physical attack by one person upon another where neither the offender displays a weapon nor the victim suffers obvious severe or aggravated bodily injury involving apparent broken bones, loss of teeth, possible internal injury, severe laceration, or loss of consciousness.

NOTE: Data are for degree-granting institutions, which are institutions that grant associate’s or higher degrees and participate in Title IV federal financial aid programs. Some institutions that report Clery Act data—specifically, non-degree-granting institutions and institutions outside of the 50 states and the District of Columbia—are excluded. A hate crime is a criminal offense that is motivated, in whole or in part, by the perpetrator’s bias against a group of people based on their race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or disability. Includes on-campus incidents involving students, staff, and guests. Excludes off-campus crimes and arrests even if they involve students or staff.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Postsecondary Education, Campus Safety and Security Reporting System, 2017.

Across different types of institutions, the total number of hate crimes reported in 2017 was highest at 4-year public and 4-year private nonprofit postsecondary institutions (416 and 405 incidents, respectively); to some extent, this reflects their larger enrollment size and number of students living on campus. Public 2-year institutions, which also enroll a large number of students, had the third highest total number of reported hate crimes (136 incidents). The frequency of crimes and the most commonly reported categories of motivating bias were similar across these types of postsecondary institutions.

This indicator has been updated to include 2017 data. For more information: Table 22.1 and http://ope.ed.gov/security/.