U.S. Hate Crimes Rose in 2020 With Jumps in Racially Motivated Incidents

Hate crimes in the U.S. rose about 6% last year, fueled by an increase in anti-Asian, anti-Black and antiwhite incidents, according to FBI statistics released Monday, reaching levels not seen in more than a decade.

State and local police reported 7,759 criminal incidents in 2020 motivated by bias, amid a global pandemic and a racial reckoning prompted by the murder of George Floyd in May 2020, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said. The number of such episodes last year matched levels last seen in 2008, and a rash of high-profile incidents have continued this year.

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Congress passed new hate-crimes legislation in response to the wave of anti-Asian violence earlier this year. The law is designed to improve data collection around hate crimes and aims to expedite a Justice Department review of such incidents. It also requires the attorney general to issue guidance to state and local law-enforcement agencies for setting up online hate-crime reporting processes, collecting data and raising public awareness about hate crimes during the Covid-19 pandemic.

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Attorney General Merrick Garland said preventing and responding to hate crimes was one of the Justice Department’s highest priorities, adding that the agency was also working to improve the reporting of incidents, law-enforcement training and coordination with state and local authorities. {snip}

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According to the new statistics, anti-Black violence increased nearly 40% in 2020, from around 2,000 incidents in 2019 to more than 2,700 last year. Anti-Asian violence shot up some 70%, to 274 incidents, and antiwhite violence increased by around 20%, to 773 incidents last year {snip}

Meanwhile, incidents of anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim hate crimes dropped last year by 30% and 42%, respectively.

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