According to a press release put out on Monday by the FBI, reported hate crimes in America in 2019 reached the highest level they've been at since 2008.
Data collected from participating law enforcement agencies pinned the total number of crimes meeting the criteria at 7,314, which (again) reaches the highest total since 7,783 such crimes were recorded in 2008. Note that the bureau labels transgressions carried out due to bias based on a person’s race, religion, sexual orientation or other categories as an act that meets the standard of a hate crime.
The agency also put the number of hate crime murders at 51, which is the highest reported figure in that category since the FBI started keeping track in the early 1990s. That figure increased sharply due to the August 2019 shooting that took place in an El Paso, Texas Wal-Mart, with that massacre being carried out by a suspect who ended up killing 22 people while intending to target Hispanics.
Other notes from the release include that religion-based crimes were up roughly seven percent from a year before, with a notably high 953 reports of crimes being carried out against Jews/Jewish institutions. Crimes against African Americans were down slightly (from 1,943 in 2018 compared to 1,930 in 2019) while crimes against Hispanic people was up (to 527, from 485 in 2018). Crimes said to be based on hate for one's sexual orientation remained virtually even, with one less crime allegedly motivated by that in 2019 compared to 2018.
The bureau released a breakdown of the victims of the crimes. You can view that here:
It also outlined in its release the following raw numbers pertaining to the offenses committed, as well as the offenders in cases in which that information was known:
Offenses by Crime Category
You can read the full release here.
