Lynn Langton, Michael G. Planty, Ph.D., Bureau of Justice Statistics

June 16, 2011    NCJ 234085

Presents annual counts and rates of hate crime victimizations that occurred between 2003 and 2009, using data from the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). This report examines the victim's suspicions about the type of bias that motivated the crime and the evidence that suggests the crime was motivated by hate. It compares hate crime victimizations to nonhate crime victimizations, with detailed information about the type of crime, whether the incident was reported to the police, and characteristics of the incident, offender, and victim. Estimates based upon the NCVS are supplemented by data from official police reports of hate crime from the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Hate Crime Statistics Program.

Highlights:

• From 2003 to 2009, the rate of violent hate crime victimizations in the United States decreased from 0.8 per 1,000 persons age 12 or older to 0.5 per 1,000.
• In nearly 90% of hate crime victimizations occurring between 2003 and 2009, the victim suspected the offender was motivated by racial or ethnic prejudice or both.
• An average of 195,000 hate crime victimizations occurred each year from 2003 to 2009.

Part of the Hate Crime Series

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