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Home Hate Crime 2014 Topic Pages Victims

Victims

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In the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, the victim of a hate crime may be an individual, a business, an institution, or society as a whole. In 2014, the nation’s law enforcement agencies reported that there were 6,727 victims of hate crimes. Of these victims, 46 were victimized in 17 separate multiple-bias incidents.

In 2013, the national UCR Program began collecting revised race and ethnicity data in accordance with a directive from the U.S. Government’s Office of Management and Budget. The race categories were expanded from four (White, Black, American Indian or Alaska Native, and Asian or Other Pacific Islander) to five (White, Black or African American, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, and Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander). The ethnicity categories changed from “Hispanic” and “Non-Hispanic” to “Hispanic or Latino” and “Not Hispanic or Latino.” (See the Methodology for more information about this program change as well as others.)

By bias motivation

An analysis of data for victims of single-bias hate crime incidents showed that:

  • 48.3 percent of the victims were targeted because of the offenders’ bias against race.
  • 18.7 percent were targeted because of bias against sexual orientation.
  • 17.1 percent were victimized because of bias against religion.
  • 12.3 percent were victimized because of bias against ethnicity.
  • 1.6 percent were victims of gender-identity bias.
  • 1.4 percent were targeted because of bias against disability.
  • 0.6 percent (40 individuals) were victims of gender bias. (Based on Table 1.)

Further examination of these bias categories showed the following details:

Racial bias

Among single-bias hate crime incidents in 2014, there were 3,227 victims of racially motivated hate crime.

  • 62.7 percent were victims of crimes motivated by their offenders’ anti-Black or African American bias.
  • 22.7 percent were victims of anti-White bias.
  • 6.2 percent were victims of anti-Asian bias.
  • 4.6 percent were victims of anti-American Indian or Alaska Native bias.
  • 3.7 percent were victims of bias against a group of individuals in which more than one race was represented (anti-multiple races, group).
  • 0.1 percent (4 individuals) were victims of anti-Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander bias. (Based on Table 1.)

Sexual-orientation bias

Of the 1,248 victims targeted due to sexual-orientation bias:

  • 56.3 percent were victims of crimes motivated by their offenders’ anti-gay (male) bias.
  • 24.4 percent were victims of anti-lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (mixed group) bias.
  • 13.9 percent were victims of anti-lesbian bias.
  • 3.8 percent were victims of anti-bisexual bias.
  • 1.5 percent were victims of anti-heterosexual bias. (Based on Table 1.)

Religious bias

Of the 1,140 victims of anti-religious hate crimes:

  • 56.8 percent were victims of crimes motivated by their offenders’ anti-Jewish bias.
  • 16.1 percent were victims of anti-Islamic (Muslim) bias.
  • 6.2 percent were victims of bias against groups of individuals of varying religions (anti-multiple religions, group).
  • 6.1 percent were victims of anti-Catholic bias.
  • 2.5 percent were victims of anti-Protestant bias.
  • 1.2 percent were victims of anti-Atheist/Agnostic bias.
  • 11.0 percent were victims of bias against other religions (anti-other religion). (Based on Table 1.)

Ethnicity

Hate crimes motivated by the offenders’ biases toward particular ethnicities were directed at 821 victims. Of these victims:

  • 52.6 percent were victimized because of anti-not Hispanic or Latino bias.
  • 47.4 percent were targeted because of anti-Hispanic or Latino bias. (Based on Table 1.)

Note: the term anti-not Hispanic or Latino does not imply the victim was targeted because he/she was not of Hispanic origin, but it refers to other or unspecified ethnic biases that are not Hispanic or Latino.

Disability bias

Of the 96 victims of hate crimes due to the offenders’ biases against disabilities:

  • 70 were targets of anti-mental disability bias.
  • 26 were victims of anti-physical disability bias. (See Table 1.)

Gender bias

Of the 40 victims of hate crime motivated by offenders’ biases toward gender:

  • 28 were categorized as anti-female.
  • 12 were anti-male.

Gender-identity bias

Of the 109 victims of gender-identity bias:

  • 69 were victims of anti-transgender bias.
  • 40 were victims of anti-gender non-conforming bias.

By crime category

Of the 6,727 victims of hate crime, 60.2 percent were victims of crimes against persons, and 39.0 percent were victims of crimes against property. The remaining 0.8 percent were victims of crimes against society. (Based on Table 2.)

By offense type

Crimes against persons

In 2014, 4,048 victims of hate crimes were victims of crimes against persons. Regarding these victims and the crimes committed against them:

  • 4 persons were murdered, and 9 were raped. (Concerning rape, data for all 9 rapes were submitted under the UCR Program’s revised definition. See the Methodology for more information about this and other program changes.)
  • 43.1 percent of the victims were intimidated.
  • 37.4 percent were victims of simple assault.
  • 19.0 percent were victims of aggravated assault.
  • 0.1 percent (6) were victims of other types of offenses, which are collected only in the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS). (Based on Table 2.)

Crimes against property

In 2014, 2,624 victims of hate crimes were victims of crimes against property. Of these:

  • 72.7 percent were victims of destruction/damage/vandalism.
  • 9.8 percent were victims of larceny-theft.
  • 7.9 percent were victims of burglary.
  • 5.3 percent were victims of robbery.
  • 1.5 percent were victims of arson.
  • 0.8 percent (22) were victims of motor vehicle theft.
  • 2.1 percent were victims of other types of hate crime offenses, which are collected only in the NIBRS. (Based on Table 2.)

Crimes against society

There were 55 victims of hate crimes categorized as crimes against society. (See Table 2.) Crimes against society (e.g., weapon law violations, drug/narcotic offenses, gambling offenses) represent society’s prohibition against engaging in certain types of activity; they are typically victimless crimes in which property is not the object.