The FBI has released an updated report on hate crimes in 2021, revealing that incidents of antisemitic hate crimes had increased by almost 20% from the previous year. The majority of religious-based hate crimes committed in 2021 were also found to be antisemitic. The new data recorded a total of 817 incidents targeting Jews, representing an increase of 500 incidents from initial statistics released late last year, which had severely undercounted antisemitic incidents in 2021.
Anti-Jewish hate crimes ranked fourth in proportion to other hate crimes, following anti-Black, anti-white, and anti-gay male hate crimes and ahead of anti-Asian hate crimes. Religious-based hate crimes accounted for 14.1% of all reported incidents, with an overall 11.6% increase in hate crimes from 2020 to 2021.
Of the reported anti-Jewish offenses, almost 61% involved destruction or vandalism, 30.1% involved intimidation, and 12.8% involved assault, which represents a 16% increase from 2020. The 817 antisemitic incidents in the new report involved 851 individual criminal offenses and 869 victims.
The FBI’s transition from the Summary Reporting System (SRS) to the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) resulted in initial reporting gaps, which affected data collection from areas with significant Jewish populations, such as New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and almost all of Florida. As an interim measure, the FBI accepted SRS reports for 2021, which boosted participation from 63% to 79% of law enforcement agencies, representing 91% of the US population.
The initial data release had been criticized for being “woefully incomplete,” with lawmakers from the House antisemitism task force pushing for more complete data. Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt suggested making hate crimes reporting mandatory for state and local law enforcement agencies receiving federal funding, a proposal also floated by some lawmakers. The American Jewish Committee welcomed the new report, stating that it was the only official record on the state of hate in America.
Source: (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)