Percentage of Hate Crimes by Bias Type

Source:  FBI Hate Crime Statistics.

Relative Risk of Hate Crime Victimization

Sources/Footnote:  The relative risk of each victim type was calculated by dividing (for each year) the percentage of occurrence of bias motivation of all FBI-reported hate crimes for each motivation-bias type (anti-Black, anti-Latino, anti-Jewish, anti-gay male) by the percentage estimate of the bias groupʼs population in the United States.  Blacks were estimated to make up between 12.64% and 12.79% of the U.S. population (based on U.S. Census and annual census estimates from 1995 through 2005), Latinos were estimated to make up between 10.31% and 14.46% of the U.S. population (based on U.S. Census and annual census estimates from 1995 through 2005), Jewish persons were estimated to make up 2.2% of the U.S. population (based on estimates from the American Jewish Year Book 2002 published by the American Jewish Committee in 2002 and edited by David Singer), and gay males were estimated to make up 1.4% of the total U.S. population over eighteen years of age (based on data from the National Health and Social Life Survey [NHSLS] conducted in the United States in 1994).  Of note is that due to stigma and to sampling differences, population estimates from 1990-2004 of gay males in the United States have ranged from 0.7% to 6% of males, with most estimates to be between 3% and 6% of males (or 1.5% and 3% of the total population).  The 1.4% used here is believed to be the most accurate estimate given the sampling procedures used in the NHSLS.  Also of note is that the population estimate of Jewish persons in the United States used here is somewhat different from that arrived at by The National Jewish Population Survey 2000-01, which estimated the United States Jewish population to be 5.2 million persons, which would be 1.85% of the total U.S. population (based on the 2000 U.S. Census).  Of additional note is that while population estimates of Latinos in the United States used here were based on government census information, it is known that there are many Latinos in the United States who, due to illegal immigration, would not be included in U.S. census estimates.   Given these issues, the yearly relative risk for being a target of a hate crime may be somewhat lower for Latinos and for gay males than are represented in the graph.  However, for a variety of reasons including fear (including fear of deportation among illegal immigrants), stigma, and non-participation of law enforcement or other agencies, hate crimes are known to be underreported.  Thus, the relative risk of being the victim of a hate crime because of anti-Black, anti-Latino, anti-Jewish, and anti-gay male bias/hatred charted in the graph represents an underestimation of risk for these groups of individuals. Finally, this report from the U.S. Department of Justice shows that in 2007 those with disabilities were 1.5 times more likely to be a victim of a non-fatal violent crime (age-adjusted) than those without disabilities, suggesting that those with disabilities are probably more likely to be the victim of a hate crime compared with non-disabled persons.