Crime Types
Hate Crime
Definition: A criminal offense motivated in whole or part by bias against a race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.
In Detail
A hate crime, also known as a bias crime, is a criminal offense committed against a person, property, or society that is motivated, in whole or in part, by the offender's bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity. The FBI has collected hate crime data since 1992 under the Hate Crime Statistics Act. Unlike the eight Part I UCR offenses, hate crime data collection is separate and relies on law enforcement agencies to identify and report bias-motivated offenses. The number of agencies reporting hate crime data has been inconsistent, with a significant drop in coverage during the NIBRS transition. In 2022, the FBI reported approximately 11,634 hate crime incidents, with race/ethnicity/ancestry bias being the most common motivation (about 57% of incidents), followed by religious bias (about 19%) and sexual orientation bias (about 16%). However, hate crime data is widely acknowledged to undercount actual incidents. Many victims do not report hate crimes to police, and some law enforcement agencies do not actively identify or record bias motivation. The Bureau of Justice Statistics estimates that the actual number of hate crimes is roughly four to ten times higher than what the FBI reports. For CrimeContext users, hate crime data is not currently integrated into the Safety Context Score because of these reporting inconsistencies, but it represents an important dimension of community safety that crime rate data alone does not fully capture. Cities with active hate crime reporting and prosecution may appear to have more hate crimes than cities that do not actively track them.
Related Terms
The FBI program that collects and publishes crime data from law enforcement agencies across the United States, serving as the primary national crime database.
The gap between the actual amount of crime that occurs and the amount reported to and recorded by law enforcement, meaning true crime levels are always higher than official statistics show.
Offenses that involve force or the threat of force against a person, including murder, robbery, aggravated assault, and rape.
The FBI's public web tool and API for accessing detailed crime statistics from the UCR program, available at crime-data-explorer.fr.cloud.gov.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does "Hate Crime" mean in crime statistics?
A criminal offense motivated in whole or part by bias against a race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.
Why is hate crime important for understanding crime data?
A hate crime, also known as a bias crime, is a criminal offense committed against a person, property, or society that is motivated, in whole or in part, by the offender's bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity. The FBI has collected hate crime data since 1992 under the Hate Crime Statistics Act. Unlike the eight Part I UCR offenses, hate crime data collection is separate and relies on law enforcement agencies to identify and report bias-motivated offenses.