The FBI Releases New Data on Hate Crimes in the United States

Filed in Research & Studies on September 13, 2021

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has issued its annual study of reported hate crimes in the United States. In 2020, there 7,759 hate crime incidents reported to the federal agency by more than 15,000 participating local law enforcement agencies.

Of the reported hate crime incidents, 61.9 percent were motivated by race or ethnicity. Of these racially motivated hate crimes, African Americans were the victims in 57 percent of the incidents.

Whites made up 55.2 percent of the known perpetrators of hate crimes. Blacks were 20.2 percent of the known offenders. In more than 16 percent of the incidents, the race of the offender was not reported.

There were 224 hate crimes in elementary or secondary schools that were reported to the FBI in 2020. There were only 116 reported hate crimes on college campuses. But remember that a large majority of college campuses were shut down for a good portion of the year due to the pandemic.

It must be noted that federal hate crime statistics do not present an accurate picture of what transpires across the country. Local law enforcement agencies are not required to report hate crimes to the FBI.

Thus, there are huge discrepancies in reporting hate crimes. In California, there were more than 1,339 reported hate crimes. In Alabama, there were 27 reported hate crimes and in Mississippi, 16 hate crimes were reported.