Shay Bilchik, Administrator .Fact Sheet #29 August 1995Hate Crime Eric Bishop and Jeff SlowikowskiHate crime, also known as bias crime, has beendefined by the Department of Justice.s CommunityRelations Service (CRS) as :A criminal offense committed against a person orproperty which is motivated, in whole or in part,by the offender's bias against a race, religion,ethnic/national origin, or sexual orientationgroup. In 1990, Congress enacted the Hate CrimesStatistics Act, mandating the Attorney General to collect data on the numbers of crimes committedannually in the United States that are motivatedby hate. The Attorney General has directed theFederal Bureau of Investigation.s (FBI) UniformCrime Reporting Program to conduct the datacollection and issue an annual report. The FBIreported 7,587 bias motivated criminal incidentswith 8,987 offenses and 9,372 victims for the year1993. The FBI notes that hate crimes are notdistinct offenses, but rather traditional crimesmotivated by bias.The Nature of Hate CrimeIn 1993, intimidation accounted for 34% of the8,987 reported offenses with destruction ofproperty or vandalism accounting for 26%, followedby simple assaults at 20%, and aggravated assaultsat 16% (Table 1). There were 16 murders and 17rapes reported in 1993 that were motivated byhate. In these offenses, the most commonmotivation was race (64.4%), followed by religion(15.1%), sexual orientation (11.1%) andethnicity/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 CategoryPerson 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 3,056Property 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 2,294Other: 26 28TABLE 1 continued Known Victims Offenders Total 9,372 8,610Offense 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 2,126Property Crimes: Robbery 202 378 Burglary 104 38 Larceny-theft 71 48 Auto Theft 9 9 Arson 61 36 Vandalism 2,604 1,011Other: 28 39Source: Hate Crime Statistics 1993, FederalBureau of InvestigationNote: An incident is a single event recorded bylaw enforcement. Each incident can have multipleoffenses 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 theremaining 15% being businesses, organizations, orother property. Table 2 shows that within theRace category, blacks were the victims of 59.2%of the crimes committed, while whites were thevictims in 30.8% of the crimes. In theEthnicity/National Origin category, 71.8% of thehate crimes were committed against Hispanics. Inthe Religion category, the majority of thevictims were of the Jewish faith (87.9%). Withinthe Sexual Orientation category, 68.6% of thevictims were male homosexuals and 14.7% werefemale homosexuals.TABLE 2. Hate Crime Incidents, Offenses, Victimsand Known Offenders by Bias Motivation, 1993. Incidents Offenses Total 7,587 8,987Bias MotivationRace: 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 226Ethnicity/National 697 845Origin: Anti-Hispanic 472 596 Anti-Other Ethnicity 225 249Religion: 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 998Homosexual Anti-Male 615 699 Anti-Female 121 147 Anti-Homosexual 94 122 Anti-Heterosexual 28 28 Anti-Bisexual 2 2TABLE 2 continued Known Victims Offenders Total 9,372 8,610Bias 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 183Ethnicity/National 895 814Origin: Anti-Hispanic 643 653 Anti-Other Ethnicity 252 161Religion: 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 1Source: Hate Crime Statistics 1993, FederalBureau of InvestigationNote: An incident is a single event recorded bylaw enforcement. Each incident can have multipleoffenses and multiple offenders.Hate Crime Data CollectionCurrent data on juvenile involvement in theperpetration of hate crimes is limited.Victimization information is not available. Noempirical data identified the extent or impact ofhate crimes on juveniles. The FBI's Uniform CrimeReports - Hate Crime Statistics for 1993 does notspecify the age of the offender. The FBI.s newdata collection system, The National IncidentBased Reporting System (NIBRS), will be morespecific as to exact demographics, including theage of both the victim and offender, but is stillseveral years away from implementation. Anothercommon source for crime data, the Bureau ofJustice Statistics' (BJS) National CrimeVictimization Survey (NCVS) , does not identifymotives for the crimes reported. It also containsno information with regard to the offender. The Office of Juvenile Justice and DelinquencyPrevention's Role in Hate CrimeThe Administrator of the Office of JuvenileJustice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), inaccordance with sections 248(b)(7)(A) and261(a)(9) of the Juvenile Justice and DelinquencyPrevention Act of 1974, as amended, has initiatedtwo projects on hate crimes involving juveniles. The projects, The Juvenile Hate Crime Study andHate Crime Prevention: A Juvenile JusticeApproach, were initially funded in 1993.Juvenile Hate Crime StudyThe Juvenile Hate Crime Study, conducted by WestVirginia University's Dr. Richard Ball and DavidCurry, is a research project designed tostandardize the complex issues in defining hatecrimes. It is also studying the quality andavailability of statistics pertaining to theinvolvement of juveniles, either as offenders orvictims, in hate crimes. Preliminary findings indicate that only six states, and seven majorcities within those states, maintain crime relateddata that specifies the age of the offender inhate crimes. The data reviewed from the six states revealed awide variance in the percentage of hate crimesthat can be attributed to juveniles (8.5% to62.6%). A juvenile is defined as a person underthe age of 18. In the seven major cities, juveniles were identified as the offender in ahate crime in 8.3% to 42.9% of the offenses. Fromthe data reviewed in these states and cities, itcan be extrapolated by using robust statisticaltechniques that an estimated 17% to 26% of allhate crimes incidents recorded by law enforcementcan be attributed to juveniles.Under the OJJDP study, some correlates betweenjuveniles and hate crime involvement have beenidentified. There appears to be a correlationbetween involvement in hate crime offending andgang-related crime. This is most notable with skinhead gangs and similar hate groups. Theseareas are identified by the project as needingfurther study.A 1988 Abt Associates study of hate crimeestimated that half of the individuals arrestedfor hate crimes are adolescents and young adultsbetween 16 and 25 years of age (Finn, P. AndMcNeil, T., 1988). In comparison, the FBIUniform Crime Reports reported that only 35% ofall arrests in 1993 were adolescents and youngadults between 16-24 years of age.Juvenile Hate Crime PreventionThe second project, Hate Crime Prevention: AJuvenile Justice Approach, is being conducted bythe Education Development Center, Inc., (EDC). EDC's goals are to assist the field in theimplementation of programs to prevent hate crimeand to build awareness in the field of educationand criminal justice to prevent hate crimes. Thesegoals will be accomplished by developing, pilottesting and disseminating a hate crime preventioncurriculum. At present, EDC has completed an assessment of the relevant literature and existingcurricula and surveyed experts in the field. EDCalso established an advisory board of nationalexperts in the areas of juvenile justice,education, hate crime research, and victimassistance to advise and assist in the developmentof the curriculum. This developmental effort resulted in the production of a summary report of existing programs and a draft educationalcurriculum for juveniles.The EDC curriculum is divided into three differentsections: 1) Introduction and ImplementationGuidelines; 2) Where we are now: Understandingand Preventing Hate Crime and Incidents; and 3) How it begins: Understanding the Roots of Hate.The educational curriculum is designed to preventhate crime and offer guidance to juveniles whocommit hate crimes. It consists of 10 fortyminute units. Each unit contains a lesson planthat includes student learning objectives,preparation instructions, teaching points,activities, handouts, lesson goals and purposes. EDC's curriculum was pilot tested at the CollinsMiddle School in Salem, Massachusetts this pastyear. EDC is currently reviewing and evaluatingcurriculum implementation. Once the evaluation iscompleted, the curriculum will undergo aredesign and be tested in two more sites toassure the efficacy of the program. Ifsuccessful, it will be made available for nationalreplication.The products developed from this OJJDP project areexpected to have substantial impact on thejuvenile justice agencies and hate crimeprevention organizations that currently utilizetraining 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 NationalAssessment. Draft Report submitted to The Officeof Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention,Department of Justice. Federal Bureau of Investigation. (1993). HateCrime Statistics 1993. Uniform Crime Reports.Finn, P. and T. McNeil. (1988). Bias Crime andCriminal Justice Response: A Summary ReportPrepared for the National Criminal JusticeAssociation. Cambridge, MA: Abt Associates, Inc.McLaughlin, K. and Kelly Brilliant. (1994). HateCrime Prevention: A Juvenile Justice Approach. Educational Development Center, Inc. DraftAssessment Report Summary submitted to the Officeof 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 DevelopmentDivision. For further information on hate crimes,please call Jeff Slowikowski at (202) 307-5929.FS-9529 
