Incidents and Offenses

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The Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program collects data about both single-bias and multiple-bias hate crimes. For each offense type reported, law enforcement must indicate at least one bias motivation. A single-bias incident is defined as an incident in which one or more offense types are motivated by the same bias. As of 2013, a multiple-bias incident is defined as an incident in which one or more offense types are motivated by two or more biases.



Important note about rape



In 2013, the FBI UCR Program initiated the collection of rape data under a revised definition and removed the term “forcible” from the offense name. The UCR Program now defines rape as follows:

Rape (revised definition): Penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim. (This includes the offenses of rape, sodomy, and sexual assault with an object as converted from data submitted via the National Incident-Based Reporting System [NIBRS].)

Rape (legacy definition): The carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will.

The offenses of fondling, incest, and statutory rape are included in the crimes against persons, other category.

The revised and legacy rape totals are provided in Tables 2, 3, 4, 7, and 11 of Hate Crime Statistics, 2015. (See the Methodology for more information about this program change as well as others.)



Overview



In 2015, 14,997 law enforcement agencies participated in the Hate Crime Statistics Program. Of these agencies, 1,742 reported 5,850 hate crime incidents involving 6,885 offenses. (See Tables 1 and 12.)

There were 5,818 single-bias incidents that involved 6,837 offenses, 7,121 victims, and 5,475 known offenders. (See Table 1.)

The 32 multiple-bias incidents reported in 2015 involved 48 offenses, 52 victims, and 18 known offenders. (See Table 1.)

Single-bias incidents (Based on Table 1.)



Analysis of the 5,818 single-bias incidents reported in 2015 revealed that:

56.9 percent were motivated by a race/ethnicity/ancestry bias.

21.4 percent were prompted by religious bias.

18.1 percent resulted from sexual-orientation bias.

2.0 percent were motivated by gender-identity bias.

1.3 percent were prompted by disability bias.

0.4 percent (23 incidents) were motivated by a gender bias.

Offenses by bias motivation within incidents (Based on Table 1.)



Of the 6,837 single-bias hate crime offenses reported in the above incidents:

58.9 percent stemmed from a race/ethnicity/ancestry bias.

19.8 percent were motivated by religious bias.

17.8 percent resulted from sexual-orientation bias.

1.7 percent stemmed from gender-identity bias.

1.3 percent resulted from bias against disabilities.

0.4 percent (29 offenses) were prompted by gender bias.

Race/Ethnicity/Ancestry bias (Based on Table 1.)



In 2015, law enforcement agencies reported that 4,029 single-bias hate crime offenses were motivated by race/ethnicity/ancestry. Of these offenses:

52.7 percent were motivated by anti-Black or African American bias.

18.2 percent stemmed from anti-White bias.

9.4 percent were classified as anti-Hispanic or Latino bias.

3.4 percent were motivated by anti-American Indian or Alaska Native bias.

3.4 percent were a result of bias against groups of individuals consisting of more than one race (anti-multiple races, group).

3.3 percent resulted from anti-Asian bias.

1.2 percent were classified as anti-Arab bias.

0.1 percent (6 offenses) were motivated by bias of anti-Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander.

8.2 percent were the result of an anti-other Race/Ethnicity/Ancestry bias.

Religious bias (Based on Table 1.)



Hate crimes motivated by religious bias accounted for 1,354 offenses reported by law enforcement. A breakdown of the bias motivation of religious-biased offenses showed:

51.3 percent were anti-Jewish.

22.2 percent were anti-Islamic (Muslim).

4.4 percent were anti-Catholic.

4.2 percent were anti-multiple religions, group.

3.7 percent were Anti-Eastern Orthodox (Russian, Greek, Other).

3.5 percent were anti-Protestant.

1.3 percent were anti-Other Christian.

0.6 percent were Anti-Mormon

0.4 percent (6 offenses) were Anti-Sikh.

0.4 percent (5 offenses) were Anti-Hindu.

0.1 percent (2 offenses) were anti-Atheism/Agnosticism/etc.

0.1 percent (1 offense) were Anti-Buddhist.

0.1 percent (1 offense) were Anti-Jehovah’s Witness.

7.7 percent were anti-other (unspecified) religion.

Sexual-orientation bias (Based on Table 1.)



In 2015, law enforcement agencies reported 1,219 hate crime offenses based on sexual-orientation bias. Of these offenses:

62.2 percent were classified as anti-gay (male) bias.

19.3 percent were prompted by an anti-lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (mixed group) bias.

13.8 percent were classified as anti-lesbian bias.

2.9 percent were classified as anti-bisexual bias.

1.9 percent were the result of an anti-heterosexual bias.

Gender-identity bias (See Table 1.)



Of the single-bias incidents, 118 offenses were a result of gender-identity bias. Of these offenses:

75 were anti-transgender.

43 were anti-gender non-conforming.

Disability bias (See Table 1.)



There were 88 reported hate crime offenses committed based on disability bias. Of these:

52 offenses were reported as anti-physical disability.

36 offenses were classified as anti-mental disability.

Gender bias (See Table 1.)



There were 29 offenses of gender bias reported in 2015. Of these:

21 were anti-female.

8 were anti-male.

By offense types (Based on Table 2.)



Of the 6,885 reported hate crime offenses in 2015:

26.9 percent were intimidation.

24.7 percent were destruction/damage/vandalism.

24.6 percent were simple assault.

12.8 percent were aggravated assault.

The remaining offenses included additional crimes against persons, property, and society.

Offenses by crime category (Based on Table 2.)



Among the 6,885 hate crime offenses reported:

65.1 percent were crimes against persons.

34.0 percent were crimes against property.

The remaining offenses were crimes against society. (See Data Collection in Methodology.)

Crimes against persons (Based on Table 2.)



Law enforcement reported 4,482 hate crime offenses as crimes against persons. By offense type:

41.3 percent were intimidation.

37.8 percent were simple assault.

19.7 percent were aggravated assault.

0.7 percent consisted of 18 murders and 13 rapes (12 rapes were submitted under the UCR Program’s revised definition of rape). (See Methodology for more details about changes in the definition of rape in the UCR Program.)

0.4 percent involved the offense category other, which is collected only in NIBRS.

Crimes against property (Based on Table 2.)



The majority of the 2,338 hate crime offenses that were crimes against property (72.6 percent) were acts of destruction/damage/vandalism.

The remaining 27.4 percent of crimes against property consisted of robbery, burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, arson, and other crimes.

Crimes against society (See Table 2.)



There were 65 offenses defined as crimes against society (e.g., drug or narcotic offenses or prostitution).



By victim type (Based on Table 6.)



When considering the 6,885 hate crime offenses and their targeted victims:

83.2 percent were directed at individuals.

4.5 percent were against businesses or financial institutions.

2.7 percent were against religious organizations.

2.1 percent were against government.

0.9 percent were against society/public.