The number of hate crime murders hit a record high in 2019, while overall hate crime incidents rose by nearly 3% last year, according to the FBI’s annual hate crime report, published on Monday.
The big picture: The data coincides with a growing number of white nationalist hate groups, which rose by 55% between 2017 and 2019, per the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) watchdog group.
- “Racially and ethnically motivated violent extremists — specifically white supremacist extremists — will remain the most persistent and lethal threat in the Homeland,” the Department of Homeland Security said in October.
By the numbers: There were 7,314 reported hate crimes in 2019, up from 7,120 the year before. Of 7,103 single-bias incidents — where one or more offenses are motivated by the same bias — reported last year:
- 55.8% were prompted by race, ethnicity or ancestry bias.
- Nearly half (48.4%) of race-motivated hate crimes were due to anti-Black bias.
- About 14.1% of race-motivated crimes were anti-Hispanic and 4.3% anti-Asian.
- 21.4% were motivated by religious bias
- There were 953 reports of crimes targeting Jewish people and institutions last year, up about 12% since 2018.
- 16.8% were prompted by […]
