Stories

Hate crimes reach 16-year high according to FBI report

The FBI seal.
Photo: Yuri Gripas/AFP via Getty Images

Hate crimes reached a 16-year high in 2018, according to the FBI's annual report.

By the numbers: Of 4,571 reported attacks the bureau tracked, aggravated assaults were up 4%, simple assaults up 15% and intimidation up 13%. The report also shows that assaults targeting Muslims, Arab Americans and African Americans have gone down, while violence against Latinos has risen.

  • The report says 485 hate crimes were reported against Latinos in 2018, compared to 43o in 2017.
  • 270 hate crimes were reported against Muslims and Arab Americans — the lowest since 2014.
  • 1,943 hate crimes were reported against African Americans — the lowest since 1992.

There was also a 37% rise in attacks against people with disabilities, and a 34% rise in attacks against transgender people.

  • Property crimes motivated by hate also fell.

Flashback: Hate crimes overall had spiked by 17% in 2017. More than half of the reported crimes had been motivated by race.

Between the lines: As noted by the New York Times, more than half the victims of hate crimes don't report the incident. State and local police forces are also not required to relay hate crime data to the FBI. Many don't even collect data on the issue.

  • 87% of 16,039 law enforcement agencies that reported data said they had zero hate crimes in 2018.
  • No hate crimes were reported throughout the entire states of Alabama and Wyoming.

Go deeper:

Hate crimes