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FBI Annual Report on Hate Crimes Finds Black People Are Most Victimized

The agency’s annual report was updated to include more reporting from across the country.

The FBI registered 10,840 cases of hate crimes in 2021, up from 8,052 in 2020, according to a supplement to the agency's annual report on hate crimes.

The number of anti-Black hate crimes increased by 14 percent to 3,277. Anti-Asian bias events grew by 167 percent to 746, while anti-White bias incidents increased by 27 percent to 1,107.

Anti-Asian bias events grew by 167 percent to 746, while anti-White bias incidents increased by 27 percent to 1,107.

The FBI released its annual report on hate crimes in December, detailing 7,262 instances in 2021. As many as 4,000 law enforcement organizations were unable to transfer to the FBI's new data collection method, so the report was based on inadequate data.

According to Voice of America, the FBI's new data collection system, NIBRS, captures more precise details and context about crime, such as the date and time of an event and the relationship between a victim and offender, enabling police departments to combat crime more effectively.

For its updated 2021 report on hate crimes, the FBI gathered information from 11,883 of the nation's 18,812 law enforcement agencies.

In 2021, the FBI documented 6,643 hate crimes, a 27 percent increase from the 5,223 crimes recorded in 2020.

Black Americans were the most frequently targeted based on their race or ethnicity, with approximately one victim of anti-Black hatred reported for every 12,000 Black people nationwide.

In 2021, the FBI registered 3,277 cases of anti-Black hate crimes, with 3,906 victims.

Asian-Americans were also disproportionately targeted, with approximately one victim every 23,000 members of this community. 746 instances targeted 845 Asian Americans in all.

The FBI also identified 909 victims of anti-Hispanic hate crimes across 698 occurrences, or nearly one victim for every 70,000 Hispanics in the United States.

White victims of hate crimes were numerically the second largest group of racially targeted victims, after Black Americans, but proportionately they were significantly less likely to be victims of hate crimes than any other large group examined in the research.

White victims of hate crimes were numerically the second largest group of racially targeted victims, after Black Americans, but proportionately they were significantly less likely to be victims victims of hate crimes than any other large group examined in the research.

In 1,107 incidents, 1,341 white Individuals were targeted due to their race, which equates to one victim per 170,000 white people.

According to the survey, white and black Americans were the most likely to perpetrate hate crimes.

The FBI documented 5,191 hate crimes committed by white Americans, 2,036 by African Americans, 1,405 by offenders of unknown race, 793 by Hispanics, and 404 by perpetrators of other races.

In 2021, there were 1,510 religiously-motivated hate crimes, a 28 percent increase over the 1,220 reported in 2020.

The religions most frequently attacked were Sikhism, Judaism, and Islam.

Sikhs were the proportionally most targeted group in the United States; the Sikh Coalition estimates that there are around 500,000 Sikhs in the country.

The FBI identified 185 occurrences involving 195 Sikhs, equating to approximately one hate crime for every 2,500 Sikhs.

The agency documented 152 attacks aimed at Muslims, resulting in 190 victims, or roughly one victim for every 20,000 Muslims.

The FBI documented 817 antisemitic acts that targeted 869 individuals, or approximately one out of every 9,200 Jews in the United States.

In the fall of 2022, the FBI will release their report on hate crimes. According to preliminary police data provided by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, the number of hate crimes in major U.S. cities continues to rise in 2017.

Under Attorney General Merrick Garland, the Justice Department has made fighting hate crimes a top priority.

Hate Crime Statistics, 2021, is available as a downloadable on the FBI’s Crime Data Explorer at cde.ucr.cjis.gov.

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