WASHINGTON, D.C. — The FBI released its 2021 Hate Crime Statistics Supplemental Report in December 2022, revealing an 11.6% increase in reported hate crimes from 2020 to 2021. The report was the first year using annual hate crimes statistics reported entirely through the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS). The Justice Department issued a statement from Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta on the FBI’s announcement of the 2021 hate crime statistics supplement, noting that “preventing, investigating and prosecuting hate crimes are top priorities for the Justice Department, and reporting is key to each of those priorities.”
The FBI’s 2021 Hate Crime Statistics Supplemental Report found that of the 8,327 hate crime offenses classified as crimes against persons in the updated 2021 dataset, 43.2% were intimidation, 35.5% were simple assault, and 20.1% were aggravated assault. The report also found that law enforcement agency participation in submitting all crime statistics, including hate crimes, fell significantly from 2020 to 2021.
In order to increase agency participation for the 2021 data year, the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program accepted hate crime data from the summary reporting data collection system and additional NIBRS hate crime reports from 3,025 agencies that covered a combined population of 87,239,467 to help compile this supplemental report.
In response to a rise in hate crimes and hate incidents, the Justice Department has taken several steps since January 2021, including aggressively investigating and prosecuting hate crimes, designating a Deputy Associate Attorney General as the department’s first-ever Anti-Hate Crimes Resources Coordinator, and awarding over $32 million in grant funding.
“Hate crimes and the devastation they cause communities have no place in this country,” said Gupta. “The Justice Department is committed to every tool and resource at our disposal to combat bias-motivated violence in all its forms.”
In Ohio, according to the United States Department of Justice, there were 7,262 hate crime incidents involving 8,673 offenses reported in Ohio in 2021. Additionally, an analysis by Axios reported an increase of 339% in hate crime reports in Columbus in 2021, up from 110 in 2020.
