Associated Press – November 19, 2007
WASHINGTON – Hate crime incidents in the United States rose last year by nearly 8 percent, the FBI reported Monday, as racial prejudice continued to account for more than half the reported instances.
Police across the nation reported 7,722 criminal incidents in 2006 targeting victims or property as a result of bias against a particular race, religion, sexual orientation, ethnic or national origin or physical or mental disability. That was up 7.8 percent from the 7,163 incidents reported in 2005.
Although the noose incidents and beatings among students at Jena, La., high school occurred in the last half of 2006, they were not included in the report. Only 12,600 of the nation’s more than 17,000 local, county, state and federal police agencies participated in the hate crime reporting program in 2006 and neither Jena nor LaSalle Parish, in which the town is located, were among the agencies reporting.
Nevertheless, the Jena incidents, and a rash of subsequent noose incidents around the country, have spawned civil rights protests in Louisiana and last week at Justice Department headquarters here. The department said it investigated the incident but decided not to prosecute because the federal government does not typically bring hate crime charges against juveniles.
The Jena case began in August 2006 after a black student sat under a tree known as a gathering spot for white students. Three white students later hung nooses from the tree. They were suspended by the school but not prosecuted. Six black teenagers, however, were charged by LaSalle Parish prosecutor Reed Walters with attempted second-degree murder of a white student who was beaten unconscious in December 2006. The charges have since been reduced to aggravated second-degree assault, but civil rights protesters have complained that no charges were filed against the white students who hung the nooses.
“The FBI report confirms what we have been saying for many months about the severe increase in hate crimes,” said the Rev. Al Sharpton, who organized Friday’s march. “What is not reported, however, is the lack of prosecution and serious investigation by the Justice Department to counter this increase in hate crimes.” Sharpton called for Attorney General Michael Mukasey to meet with members of the Congressional Black Caucus and civil rights leaders to discuss this matter.
The Justice Department says it is actively investigating a number of noose incidents at schools, work places and neighborhoods around the country. It says “a noose is a powerful symbol of hate and racially motivated violence” recalling the days of lynchings of blacks and that it can constitute a federal civil rights offense under some circumstances.
The FBI report does not break out the number of noose incidents but the two most frequent hate crimes in 2006 were property damage or vandalism, at 2,911 offenses, and intimidation, at 2,046 offenses. There were 860 aggravated assaults and 1,447 simple assaults. There were three murders, 6 rapes and 41 arsons. Other offenses included robbery, burglary, larceny, and motor vehicle theft.
The 7,722 criminal hate crime incidents involved 9,080 specific criminal offenses, include 5,449 against individuals, 3,593 against property and 38 classified as against society at large. An incident can involve attacks on both people and property.
As has been the case since the FBI began collecting hate crime data in 1991, the most frequent motivation was racial bias, accounting for 51.8 percent of the incidents in 2006. That was down slightly from the 54.7 percent in 2005.
Also in 2006, religious bias was blamed for 18.9 percent of the incidents; sexual orientation bias for 15.5 percent, and ethnic or national origin for 12.7 percent.
Of the 7,330 offenders identified by police, 58.6 percent were white, 20.6 percent were black, 12.9 percent were of unknown racial background and other races accounted for the remainder.
The greatest percentage of incidents, 31 percent, occurred near residences or homes. Another 18 percent occurred on highways or streets, 12.2 percent at colleges or schools, 6.1 percent in parking lots or garages, 3.9 percent at churches, synagogues or temples. The remainder occurred at other specific locations, multiple locations or unknown locations.
Lack of full participation by the more than 17,000 police agencies around the nation somewhat undermines year-to-year comparisons.
For instance, in 2004, 12,711 agencies reported 7,649 incidents. In 2005, only 12,417 agencies reported and incidents dropped 6 percent to 7,163. But in 2006, agencies reporting rose to 12,620 and incidents climbed 7.8 percent to 7,722.
On the Net:
FBI report: http://www.fbi.gov/page2/nov07/hatecrime11190 7.html
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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posted November 19, 2007 at 5:08 pm
Why am I not surprised?
It’s been almost seven years under the current regime, headed by “a uniter, not a divider,” whose Presidential campaigns and administrations were characterized by more sliminess than this country has seen in a century. And now, the country is more sharply divided, and divided with more blatant and self-righteous hostility than we have been since the Civil War.
On the one side, the increasingly wealthier wealthy and the increasingly more numerous poor, between Good Christian gay-haters and bad heathen liberals who are soft on terrorism / immigration / drugs / you-name-it.
In such an atmosphere, wherein the most horrid, fear-and-hatred driven policies are promoted and defended in the most self-righteous ways, how could one expect anything else?
BTW – this article also demonstrates that the Great American Sin remains what it always was: Racism. All this back-and-forth about gays is a smoke-screen keeping us from the real issue which separates us from God and one another.
posted November 19, 2007 at 6:09 pm
Interesting observation, DeaconScott. Given that 51.8% of the incidents were racial in nature, 12.7% were based on “ethnic or national origin” my math makes that 64.5%. Also, since religion is often closely linked to ethnic identity the 18.9% in that category could also make the total hate crimes because of ethnic/racial origin even higher. A tragic commentary on our “progress” as a society.
We all fear that which we do not understand. Fear left unchecked often takes the form of hatred. While many have tried to break down the barriers between races, the walls are still high, and are often topped with barbed wire (metaphorically speaking).
posted November 19, 2007 at 6:30 pm
They’ve left another crime out of this article, and that is teen-age vandalism. In the past five yrs. our neighborhood, has had three cases on our St., a car driving through our lawns, and around our planters, leaving deep tire impressions that affected four yards. Decorative pottery stolen, fr. two homes, and the last this summer that affected three homes, smashed planters, and an outside pole lantern destroyed. The times our society is living in breeds disrespect, and the attitude, “lets have fun and destroy beauty, it’s night and no one would ever think of us doing this.
posted November 19, 2007 at 6:43 pm
BTW- this article also demonstrates that the Great American Sin remains what it always was: Racism. All this back and forth about gays is a smoke-screen keeping us from the real issue which seperates us from God and one another.
I don’t understand what you’ve stated here DeaconScott. Are you saying that racism is being covered up by upholding the Gays equal justice fight? And that the real issue is racism that seperates us from God and one another? What do you mean?
posted November 19, 2007 at 7:55 pm
This is going to sound very pessimestic, but when has there been a time when there hasn’t been one group of people who hasn’t hated another group of people? In all countries, all through time. There was Hitler, there is the KKK there is …..could go on and on.
Unfortunately even in 2007, this tends to continue. One religion feels superior to another, heterosexuals find those who aren’t “just like them” bad, and certainly one race is superior to another, right? I thought that religion was supposed to make folks “love one another”.
posted November 19, 2007 at 8:51 pm
Anyone right now looking for a new area of employment? My guess is that law enforcement is going to be (unfortunately) a booming industry.
Deaconscott, while I stand right beside you in your utter disgust at rising crime levels, we dramatically part ways in the causes of these crimes. While I recognize you very much dislike that which you term “the current regime,” it’s a little ridiculous to attribute all of the wrongs in our society to the Bush presidency.
Redneck bigots will be redneck bigots, thugs will be thugs, and delinquents will be delinquents, wholly without regard to whoever occupies the oval office. My guess would be that any increases in long-term criminal trends have more to do with underlying cultural issues (if that means anything) than they do with politics and foreign policy.
(though I suppose this could very well be YET ANOTHER ill-effect of *drum roll* global warming)
BYW, good point henrietta22. Moronic little delinquents going around vandalizing things, well, sucks.
posted November 19, 2007 at 9:10 pm
Henrietta -
Yes, I didn’t express that last part very well, did I?
As you know, in my church, there has been the most enormous controversy centered around gay sexuality. It has risen to such a pitch that it looks like the conservatives are about to “destroy the village to save it” (to borrow the term from American military policy in Viet Nam).
All of which is simply ridiculous, almost demonically so. Sexual sins (if sins they are) are low low low on the list of the Seven Deadlies, and are mentioned in passing, if that, in the Gospels, and only a little more in the rest of the NT.
But high on the list, and on almost every page of the NT and much of the OT as well, are sins of pride, of malice, of failing to welcome the stranger, of want of charity. I served as deacon at Mass this evening, and, in honor of Saint Princess Elizabeth of Hungary, I proclaimed the Gospel:
(Jesus said,) “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’ (Matt 25:31-40, NRSV). (Verses 41-46 give us the other side [Lord, when were you in prison and we did not visit you?] of this well-known pericope.)
THAT is what matters. THAT is the righteousness, and the sin. THAT is the sin which is fostered by the Current Occupant and his cronies, manifested in increasing sense of ‘permission’ to commit hate crime. And, horrible as it is, only 15.5% of the increasing amount of such crime is about sexual orientation. More than half is about race/ethnicity.
If America were to cease to be racist, if we were to learn to welcome the black/brown/etc stranger, almost all of homophobia and everything else would evaporate in the process. But no, we become more racist, and homophobic, and violent, and antiChristian – all/most in the name of Christ, the prince of Peace.
And we destroy the churches we love, because they violate 2000 years of Christian experience and actually welcome the gay stranger. How dare they?
It’s crazy. I was going to say ‘it’s just crazy,’ but it’s too crazy to be “just” crazy.
DS
posted November 19, 2007 at 9:19 pm
Michael -
You were so close! “My guess would be that any increases in long-term criminal trends have … to do with underlying cultural issues….”
Yes! Exactly! The most relevant underlying cultural issue in America is racism; and the most relevant shaper of current culture is the rapid acceleration in polarization of society, wrought in large part by the Bush fils Administration.
Not the “politics and foreign policy” themselves, but the bending of social norms down to our basest, most brutish selves.
posted November 19, 2007 at 11:08 pm
As your normal, plain-old american, it feels like quite the stretch that President Bush has much to do with the bending of social norms to its “basest, most brutish…” I’m personally not one to characterize President Bush in such a sinister, inherently evil fashion. I suppose it all depends on one’s starting point, which I likewise suppose we differ on.
As for polarization, our profoundly diverse, pluralistic society is by its nature in possession of tensions. So much difference among the populace is a fair foundation for seeds of disharmony (though I’m not suggesting that that is a forgone conclusion). What I am saying is that our country experienced polarization prior to Bush’s presidency. The 2000 presidential election was highly demonstrative of how split the country is politically. Aight, so anyway, the point is the rapid acceleration of polarization you mention cannot be described as entirely symptomatic of the Bush administration.
Criminals resort to crime for an abundance of reasons (opportunity, boredom, malevolence, etc.). Maybe we are both totally wrong in attempting to find reasons for its prevalence. Who knows?… maybe it was just a bad year.
posted November 20, 2007 at 11:26 am
It is with good reason that the reigning monarch has throughout history been held accountable for the health and prosperity of the people. The monarch sets the tone, initiates the politics, and has the most impact on the economy. Because the Bush/Cheney administration has as its agenda the inter-family war with Husseins (and not with the bin Ladens as we might expect), most of our national resources have been diorected there. As a way to keep this a national priority the administration has been promoting divisive rhetoric. Unfortunetly, this kind of thing tends to spread quickly and without control, like wild fires. So it has poured over into the national attitude. Sad, very sad. Also the economy is now being driven by the war effort – which explains in many ways why we are in this marvelous mess. Schools, police & fire departments, and other civil services are being cut in order the channel funds to this foolish and personal endeavor. The result – a rise in crime. It has happened in almost every war. What is required is a complete change in tone, attitude and national priority. I hope one of the candidates is willing to make that stand and to motivate the voters and entire population to follow suit. I hope, I hope, I hope.
posted November 20, 2007 at 11:49 am
DeaconScott: “The most relevant shaper of current culture is the rapid acceleration in polarization of society, wrought in large part by the Bush fils Administration.”
Not to put too fine a point on it, but isn’t that sort of generalization the kind of thing that leads to “polarization” in the first place? It epitomizes the very real tendency we all have to demonize those with whom we disagree. While the current Bush administration has not been perfect by any stretch of imagination (no human institution is) the factors that have led to the polarization that you so rightly observe are far more complex than just two four year terms as President of the USA. Just as one example: Our society has come to view the individual as the base unit for all interaction. We give our own wants and opinions a place of primacy and disregard or openly defy the good of the community for our own pleasure or gain. This situation did not happen over the course of eight years. A society that behaves as though it is based on the primacy of the individual will necessarily become not just polarized, but splintered into a million little individual totalitarian states with “me” as absolute dictator. By the way, you can trace this development back at least as far as the Enlightenment, and arguably all the way back to the debates surrounding the Council of Nicaea.
Wouldn’t it be better to ask ourselves what we can do to make the part of the world where we live a better place for EVERYONE? When we have gotten a good start, then we can broaden our horizons to our nation, and eventually to the world. In other words, begin in Jerusalem, then go to Judaea, then to Samaria, then to the uttermost parts of the earth. That, at least as I read it, is at least one part of the Great Commission.
posted November 20, 2007 at 3:29 pm
Thanks Dubya. You stole the first election, then used fear to keep power. Will you “declare emergency” like your buddy Musharaff to hold power? Nice to see us “bringing Democracy to the middle east” Thanks so much Dubya.
Ps. How many more Bush Bodybags will come home from Iraq to protect the Bush oil $.
posted November 20, 2007 at 8:10 pm
DeaconScott, thanks for the explanation.
posted November 21, 2007 at 12:50 pm
James Curtis, how much are you willing to spend for gas? It is hard to draw a conclusion that the war was over oil when oil prices are at an all time high. Of course if you don’t have to worry about feeding a family when it is difficult to pay for the cost of gas to drive to work, then it is easier to point fingers and say shame.
posted November 23, 2007 at 11:03 am
elton -
I think you might have misinterpreted James’s remark.
He said, “the Bush oil $.” I took him to be suggesting that the war was intended to increase the Bush family fortune, not that cheap oil would be available to America or the world – in which case, high crude prices would not be undesirable to them.
I think he might have a point there. Bush pere has pretty much become a flack for the Saud family since being turned out of office, so it’s quite possible that that was one of Bush fils’s motives (along with machisimo – see 1 Kings 12:12-15 – then continue through to v 19).
Maybe James will come back and let us know what he had in mind.
As to his main point, speculating that W might “declare(a state of) emergency” in order to retain power: remember that in 2004 there had briefly been talk of suspending (“delaying” – same thing) the Presidential election for fear of ‘terrorist attacks.’
I wouldn’t put anything past him.
How different things would have been if the Senate had given due credence to Anita Hill! Gore v Bush would have been decided the other way, and we would be at peace.
posted November 24, 2007 at 1:40 pm
You can blame Bush all you want, (I don’t like him either,) but it is about a racism that is like the California fires they are fed by a dry, lifeless, and fearful nation. Liberals feed racism in their sick and subtle ways and conservatives feed racism in obvious blatant contempt covered by lame fake initiatives. Meanwhile even the most of the well meaning are just too scared to make a meaningful change. As the economy goes bad the worse of people will come out and racism will be on the rise.
posted November 24, 2007 at 3:26 pm
The comment on Bush oil $ was “both”. Either way, Bush and Cheney(Cheney given millions as prepayment prior to entering office by discredited Halliburton) profit. Its a “win win” for Bush. Either big oil bucks due to price increases because of oil supply fears, and/or the prewar and postwar payoffs from the military industrial complex. Read a book called “The Arms of Krupp” or the house of Krupp(not sure on title). They were the war Barons from the Renaissance to the 1960′s in Germany and Europe. The only path to Peace is building cars that do not need fossil fuel sources. When we deny the massive oil wealth, greed will stop in the middle east. We will have killed the fatted calf. The reason we have not killed Bin Laden is simple. Once he and the 15,000 al qaeda are dead, we must withdraw. Also, we are not trying to get a middle east peace deal, either. That would alleviate the problem. We have the Christian Fundamentalist Bushies(a few Republican Taliban Neocons who worship the God of war Vs. a few Muslim Neocons(al qaeda and friends) worshipping the God of war.) They do not worship the God of the Moderate Christians and Muslims, the God of Abraham. We overreacted to 9/11. The proper response would have been to (think cold war) simply send smaller killing teams in quietly to kill all the Al Qaeda(15,000 or so, while securing our borders and our transportation systems). Would have been cheaper and better and faster. Now we will default on a massive war debt and go down like The Empire of Rome.
posted November 25, 2007 at 1:02 pm
I have a news flash for all of the hate crime stats out there people, it is unConstitutional and eventually the US Supreme Court will rule it so. The 4th Amendment to the US Constitution is clear about “cruel and unual punishment,” and every alleged “hate crime” is already a crime. Assault & Battery upon an individual is illegal both under state and federal law. The only reason for hate crimes is to stifle free speech and use it as a means to socially engineer society.
A noose is a symbol and that is all that it is and hanging one can be prosecuted for harassment and/or intimidation but this screaming mania that seeing a noose strung up means that hate crimes are on the rise is ridiculous. Furthermore, this absolute lunatic approach to assigning the blame for hate crimes upon a current President shows that few, if any of you in this debate have clue-one to what you are attempting to discuss.