New York State has seen a surge in hate crimes over the last five years with 1,089 reported instances in 2023, marking the highest number since data collection and annual reporting were mandated by New York’s Hates Crimes Act of 2000, according to a report released by State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. The number is 69% more than in 2019.
“New York is a diverse hub of cultures, beliefs and identities, whose strength has always been in the creation of community bonds that unite us,” DiNapoli said. “Fighting hatred and bigotry demands that we communicate with, respect and accept our neighbors. It requires our spiritual, political, community and business leaders to take active roles in denouncing hate, investing in prevention and protection efforts, and increasing education that celebrates the value of New York’s diversity.”
A hate crime is an offense that is motivated by a perception or belief about the victim’s race, ethnicity, gender, gender identity or expression, religion, age, disability, sexual orientation or another protected characteristic. Hate crimes can be committed against a person or property.
Except for 2020, which may reflect artificially low reporting due to COVID, there has been a steady rise in hate crimes over the past five years, with the number of reported incidents more than doubling between 2018 and 2023. Moreover, the available data may not capture all relevant crimes, as underreporting may occur for several reasons. Victims may be hesitant to report incidents due to reasons that include language barriers, fear of retaliation, mistrust in law enforcement or lack of confidence that justice will be served.
A decade ago, New York City and the rest of the state reported roughly equal shares of hate crime incidents. However, between 2013 and 2019, reported hate crime incidents in New York City increased by one-third, but declined by 25.8% in the rest of the state. Between 2019 and 2023, these incidents grew in New York City (59.3%) and more rapidly in the rest of the state (87.5%). In 2023, the New York City Police Department reported 669 hate crimes, an increase of 12.6% from 2022. In the rest of the state, the Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) reported 420 incidents in 2023, a 12.9% increase from the year before.
DiNapoli’s report also found:
- The most common bias motivation reported in New York state in 2023 was for religion, with 543 incidents or nearly half. Race, ethnicity and national origin constitutes approximately one-third, and sexual orientation/gender identity (LGBTQ+) almost 17%.
- In 2023, 44% of all recorded hate crime incidents and 88% of religious-based hate crimes targeted Jewish victims, the largest share of all such crimes.
- Hate crimes against Jewish and Muslim New Yorkers rose by 89% (253 to 477) and 106% (18 to 37), respectively, between 2018 and 2023.
- The share of racially motivated incidents in the state is now greater than it was five years ago. Nearly 17% of all recorded hate crime incidents and 52% of racially motivated hate crimes were anti-Black.
- 71% of hate crimes based on an anti-LGBTQ+ bias targeted gay male victims, almost 12% of all incidents. Over the past five years, anti-gay male incidents have risen by 141% (54 to 130) and hate crimes against transgender New Yorkers have risen by 140% (10 to 24).
- During the pandemic, anti-Asian hate crimes spiked from five reported incidents in 2019 to 140 in 2021. In the last two years, the number of anti-Asian incidents has dropped by half, but remains 11 times the number of incidents reported in 2019.
Types of Hate Crime Offenses
Hate crimes targeting individuals and property both rose since 2018, but hate crimes involving assaults on people grew faster and were more common than property crimes starting in 2021. In 2018, crimes against persons were 41% of all hate crimes; in 2022 they rose to 52%. In that year, nearly half of all hate crime reports carried an assault charge compared to 39% in 2018.
2023 data for areas outside of New York City detailing types of hate crime offenses has not yet been published by DCJS. Available data for New York City shows 58% of all New York City hate crime incidents in 2023 were committed against a person; of these, 32% were egregious enough to be felonies, including 72 felony assaults, 47% of which were committed on an anti-Jewish or anti-gay male bias. Incidents against Jewish New Yorkers accounted for 65% of all felony hate crime incidents (people and property) in New York City in 2023.
The most common offense in New York City in 2023 was aggravated harassment in the first degree. There were 145 incidents of this type in New York City, and all but 14 of them were committed with an anti-Jewish bias. The two other most common offenses were misdemeanor assault crimes against persons, which were predominantly motivated by anti-gay male, anti-Jewish, anti-Asian, and anti-Black biases.
DiNapoli’s report noted several initiatives that have been undertaken at the state and federal level to address the increase in hate crimes and identified key policy areas, including education, mental health services, and online safety, where action could be taken to help prevent hate crimes.
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