The number of hate crimes reported to U.S. law enforcement agencies decreased by 6% from 2010, while anti-LGBT violence increased slightly by 2.6%, according to a new report by the FBI.
Of the 6,222 hate crimes reported in 2011, 1,508 were based on sexual orientation, up from 1,470 in 2010. Nearly 21% of all hate crimes were motivated by sexual orientation, said the FBI, with men most often as the victims.
“The increase in the number of reported hate crimes directed against gays and lesbians, now the second most frequent category of crime, is especially disturbing,” said the Anti-Defamation League.
However, as Jack Levin, a hate-crime expert at Northeastern University, notes, the number could be much higher as many victims are reluctant to report attacks. LGBT victims in particular may fear that police will be insensitive if they report an incident.
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“FBI statistics vastly underestimate the actual number of hate crimes committed in the United States,” Levin told the L.A. Times. “When the Justice Department asks victims anonymously whether they have been targeted for hate offenses, they get a figure that approaches 200,000 hate crimes annually.”
2eo
Sadly this corresponds with the police statistics here in the UK and from what’s been said elsewhere also in France and Germany too.
It isn’t surprising, but it is sad.
penny143
I thought that anti gay violence was a hate crime.
Raquel Santiago
Hate Crime and Anti-LGBTQQYIA is the same thing. So technically they have not gone down but gone up. And if you look at the world as a whole it has increased dramatically. Do these people have blinders on?
Charles175
If the US Supreme Court strikes down prop 8 and DOMA, the religious right (like the Christian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan as pictured) will go nuts. In this let all be vigilant.
Bob LaBlah
It would be interesting to know how many gays FOUGHT BACK when they were being attacked. Statistic be damned.
NO ONE HAS THE RIGHT TO BEAT ON ANOTHER BASED ON THE ATTACKERS DISLIKE OF THE VICTIM.
Caliban
Yes anti-gay crimes are hate crimes, but many states don’t have protections for sexual orientation and many police departments will look for ANY excuse not to classify a crime as motivated by anti-gay bias.
GreatGatsby2011
@Raquel Santiago: No technically the total number of hate crimes reported to US law enforcement agencies went down six percent. What increased is the ratio of hate crimes motivated by sexual orientation versus hate crimes motivated by some other bias (ethnicity and such).
D9W
If I remember right, I thought I heard the southern poverty law center say these numbers were under reported. From the things I have heard here, in a red part of my state, about what people thought of our president, I have to agree the hate is being under reported..