Police in the U.S. are downplaying the prevalence of hate crimes and failing to report them to the Department of Justice, it says. The 7,000 forces that do not do so include New York and Los Angeles' police departents, the nation's largest.
In Dec. 2022, the FBI released a report showing there were 7,262 hate crime incidents and 9,024 victims in 2021. Much of the violence has targeted the Black community – almost 60% of the reported bias crimes – while other reports include crimes against people based on their sexual orientation, gender and religion. But many police forces are not reporting hate crimes to the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS).
"The problem is especially acute for hate crimes because many agencies that are NIBRS-compliant are not submitting hate crime data. As a result, the 2021 Hate Crime Statistics released late last year provided an incomplete picture of hate crime trends in this country," said Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta in remarks at the U.S. Conference of Mayors on Wednesday.
