The rate of violent hate crimes in the United States in 2019 (1.0 hate crimes for every 1,000 persons aged over 12) was not significantly different from that of 2005 (with 0.8 crimes per 1,000 persons), as is shown in the latest Bureau of Justice Statistics, based on data reported by the victims US National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). During the fifteen-year period from 2005 to 2019, the rate of victims of violent hate crimes fluctuated between 0.6 and 1.1 for every 1,000 persons.

On average, the residents of the United States experienced approximately 246,900 victimizations of hate crimes per year during the 2005-2019 period referred to above. The number of hate crimes varied between 173,600 and 305,390 during this period. Yet the proportion of total victimizations for violent hate crimes did not vary significantly between 2005 and 2019.

In general, victimizations of hate crimes represented 1.6% of all non-fatal victimizations in 2019, compared with 0.9% in 2005. The victims indicated that nearly two thirds (62%) of hate crimes during this period were simple aggressions.

During the five-year period studied, it is estimated that 59% of the victimizations of violent hate crimes reported by the victims were motivated by bias against their race, ethnic group or national origin. This was the most frequently reported motivation for a violent hate crime. In almost a quarter of the victimization cases for this type of crime, the victims believed they had been targeted due to bias against their gender (24%), against persons or groups they were associated with (23%) or against their sexual orientation (20%).  Likewise, it was considered that approximately 1 in every 10 victimizations in cases of violent hate crime were motivated by bias against the victim’s disability (11%) or religion (9%).

Between 2010 and 2019, the number of hate crimes registered by the forces of order increased by 10% (from 6,628 to 7,314 incidents), according to the FBI’s Hate Crime Statistics Program (HCSP). By comparison, the total volume of crimes registered by the security forces (including hate incidents and fires) decreased by 22% during the same ten-year period.

The figures registered by the forces of order and those reported by the victims differ because the NCVS and HCSP data were collected using different methods, and the victims often did not report incidents to the police. The HSCP and NCVS figures are the main sources of annual information about hate crimes in the United States, and use the definition established by the Hate Crime Statistics Act of 1990.

As was the case for the motivation of hate crimes reported to the NCVS, the majority (approximately 54%) of the hate crimes registered by the forces of order between 2010 and 2019 represented bias against race, ethnic group or cultural origin. 49% of these incidents were motivated by bias against blacks or Afro-Americans.  During this same period of time, the forces of order registered increases in the number of victims of hate crimes against blacks or Afro-Americans (from 2,201 to 2,391 victims), Asians (from 136 to 215) and Arabs (from 48 to 126).

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