DOJ Report: Majority Of Hate Crimes Go Unreported (VIDEO)

The Department of Justice released a report this week that shows that the majority of hate crimes, especially vandalism, go unreported.

Between the years 2004 and 2015, there were over 250,000 hate crime incidents each year. Between 2011 and 2015, over 54 percent of hate crimes went unreported. About 44 percent of the time, they were handled outside of law enforcement officials. Many people were able to handle their hate crime problem with someone outside of law enforcement, such as a school official or an apartment manager. However, many of them didn’t get reported because the people didn’t think that the police could or would help them. Many people felt that their attack wasn’t important enough to report to the police.

Also, 90 percent of hate crimes involve violence of some kind. Whereas, only 25 percent of non-hate crimes involve violence.

The report defines hate crimes as:

“… those that manifest evidence of prejudice based on race, gender or gender identity, religion, disability, sexual orientation or ethnicity.[sic]”

About a third of the hate crime victims were targeted because of their ethnicity. Forty-eight percent of the hate crimes between 2011 and 2015 were racially motivated. This is a decrease from 62 percent between 2003 and 2007.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions assembled a Hate Crimes Subcommittee back in April following an Executive Order from President Donald Trump asking for a Task Force on Crime Reduction and Public Safety.

The Department of Justice set up a Summit on hate crimes Thursday to talk about many problems surrounding hate crimes, including the lack of data about them.

Sessions spoke at the Summit saying:

“Hate crimes are violent crimes. No person should have to fear being violently attacked because of who they are, what they believe, or how they worship.”

Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, California State University said:

“Many victims don’t report hate crimes because of personal and institutional reasons.”

For example, some Latino immigrants may not report hate crimes for fear of deportation. We need to find a way to combat these hate crimes.

Featured image via YouTube screenshot.

Hi, I'm from Huntsville, AL. I'm a Liberal living in the Bible Belt, which can be quite challenging at times. I'm passionate about many issues including mental health, women's rights, gay rights, and many others. Check out my blog weneedtotalkaboutmentalhealth.com