The FBI has published its latest annual statistics on hate crimes in the United States, but researchers say the figures are seriously flawed and could weaken efforts to address bias-motivated offenses. The concerns were detailed in a recent NPR report by Sergio Olmos.
According to the FBI, there were 7,262 hate crimes nationwide last year, a slight drop from the year before. Researchers caution that this total may give an incomplete view of what is actually happening, largely because police agencies are not required to send their data to the bureau.
Of roughly 18,000 law enforcement agencies across the country, only about two-thirds submitted any data last year. The gaps are not limited to small departments in rural areas. The country's largest cities, including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, did not contribute data.
A different federal source suggests the scale of the problem is far larger. Eaven Holder of the University of Florida published a study comparing 18 years of FBI hate crime statistics with figures from the Bureau of Justice Statistics. That dataset is widely regarded as more reliable because researchers ask people directly about their experiences with crime, and people tend to open up more in that setting. Holder said it indicates there are 200,000 to 300,000 hate crime incidents in a given year, while the FBI's data records fewer than 10,000.
Holder also noted that among the 15,000 agencies that did participate last year, 80% reported zero hate crime incidents. Olmos said several factors could explain that. Some victims may not see themselves as targets of a hate crime, and some departments may log an assault without labeling it as one, partly because proving motive carries a higher burden.
Jacob Kaplan, a professional specialist at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, explained the standard. Evidence must show that bias played at least a small part in the crime, and police need actual evidence rather than a victim's belief. In his words, they need "some kind of evidence to suggest that bias was a motivating factor." Olmos said that even departments making a sincere effort to track hate crimes still face a challenge.
Researchers say the consequences extend beyond statistics. Relations between police and communities are already strained, and they argue that failing to take identity-based crime seriously feeds a cycle in which victims are less likely to turn to police, officers record fewer such crimes, and the legitimacy of policing erodes, especially in marginalized communities.
The Justice Department itself has acknowledged the difficulty of drawing conclusions from the dataset, given how inconsistently cities report from year to year. Even if every participating city submitted its data, law enforcement does not universally agree on what counts as a hate crime. As an example, a mass shooting last year at spas and massage parlors in Atlanta left eight people dead, including six who were Asian, and was not counted as a hate crime in the statistics. Olmos said the flawed numbers could mask a very real problem at a time of rising domestic extremism.
