House Drops Hate Crimes Provision from DOD Bill, Thwarting Any Real Chance of Consideration This Term

“We’re profoundly disappointed that the hate crimes bill was dropped from the Defense Authorization bill.

Though the urgency of a hate crimes bill was beyond dispute, it was defeated by two forces: organized opposition from the House Republican leadership in deference to an intolerant segment of their base and some progressive Democrats who elevated symbolism over substance, knowing that this was the last clear chance to pass a hate crimes bill this term.

This perverse form of bipartisanship is responsible for blocking what would have been the most significant gain in federal protections against hate crimes in nearly two decades.”

Overall Numbers

• FBI 2006 statistics show a 7.8 percent spike in hate crimes from 7,163 to 7,722 criminal incidents nationally. 


• There were 9,652 victims of hate crimes were reported in 2006 stemming from 9,076 offenses.  

Disparities in Underreporting Across States

• New Jersey’s population of 8.7 million people reported 759 hate crime incidents, yet Texas with 23.5 million people only reported 245 incidents.


• Massachusetts has a population of 6.4 million and reported 379 hate crime incidents, yet Illinois with 12.8 million people only reported 156 hate crime incidents.


• Connecticut with its population of 3.5 million people reported 131 hate crime incidents, yet Missouri with its population of 5.8 million only reported 78 hate crime incidents.  

Hate Crimes at Various Locations

• 31.0 percent occurred in or near residences or homes.


• 18.0 percent on took place on highways, roads, alleys, or streets.


• 12.2 percent happened at universities or schools.  

Extremely Low Reporting States

• Mississippi reported the same number of hate crimes in 2006 as it did in 2005: zero. 


• Only one city in Alabama reported any statistics and that city reported only one instance. 


• Only three cities in Georgia reported at all.  

Bias Breakdown

• Of the 7,720 single bias incidents 51.8 percent were racially motivated and 12.7 percent resulted from ethnicity/national origin bias


• 18.9 percent stemmed from religion bias and 15.5 percent were motivated by sexual orientation 


• African Americans constituted 66 percent of the victims in racial bias incidents.


• 63 percent of anti-ethnic bias crimes targeted Hispanics 64 and 12 percent and of religious violence was directed at Jews and Muslims, respectively.