Various Jewish groups have criticized the FBI’s latest hate crimes report over a lack of data collection.
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) noted on their website that the report documented 7,263 hate crimes in the United States in 2021, the third-highest recorded in a decade. But the ADL noted that there was a 22% decline in the number of reporting agencies and that most of California and all of Florida did not provide any data to the FBI, nor did New York City and other large cities.
According to NBC News, the Department of Justice has claimed that the reason for these reporting deficiencies is because the FBI switched to a new procedure for reporting the data and many states and reporting agencies did not switch to the new procedure by the FBI’s deadline for the data. Consequently, the report makes it seem like the number of hate crimes in the country declined from 2020 to 2021.
“Hate crimes tear at the fabric of our society and traumatize entire communities,” ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement. “The failure by major states and cities across the country to report hate crime data essentially – and inexcusably – erases the lived experience of marginalized communities across the country.” He called on Congress “to make it mandatory for state and local law enforcement agencies that receive federal funding to participate in the FBI’s hate crime data collection efforts.”
Kenneth L. Marcus, who chairs the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, said in a statement that the report was “essentially useless” for giving the false impression that antisemitic hate crimes declined in 2021. “The problem is so bad that record-high levels of anti-Semitism appear in the official data as actual declines, because major jurisdictions didn’t formally report it,” Marcus said. “This massive failure has undermined the purposes of hate crimes data precisely when we most need the data. If the FBI doesn’t quickly correct this problem, congressional committees will need to ask some serious questions.”
The American Jewish Committee also urged Congress to fix the hate crime reporting deficiencies.
The FBI released its 2021 Hate Crimes Report today.
It shows a gross lack of reporting on hate crimes in cities across the country.
Join AJC and @Muslim_Jewish in urging Congress to act nationally and locally to address these hate crimes reporting issues.https://t.co/wrE8k86LoH
— American Jewish Committee (@AJCGlobal) December 12, 2022
