Stuff to Blog About and More: FBI Hate Crime Statistics

According to the FBI, last month, two men were sentenced to life in prison for murdering a Kansas City, Missouri man in cold blood because of the color of his skin.

It happened in March 2005, when the pair drove past an African-American walking to work and fired shots at him. They missed, so they drove around the block, caught up with him again, and fired a second time. This time, the man was struck in the chest and killed.

It was a hate crime, pure and simple—a traditional crime (in this case, murder) motivated by bias. Hate crimes like these are a sad reality for our country, and each year, the FBI crunches a lot of numbers to get our arms around these crimes as relayed to us by thousands of our law enforcement partners nationwide. Our hope is that by publishing the who, what, when, and where of these statistics for law enforcement, communities, criminologists, civic groups, government leaders, academics, and the media, we as a nation can better understand this scourge and develop preventative strategies and training courses to address it.

This year’s report—Hate Crime Statistics 2007, now posted online—continues that mission. Overall, 7,624 hate crime incidents involving 9,006 offenses were reported to us—incidents that involved bias towards a particular race, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity/national origin, or disability. The report goes into a great deal of interesting detail, but here’s a breakdown of some key numbers:

Victims

52 percent were targeted because of their race
17.1 percent were targeted because of their religious belief
15.9 were targeted because of their sexual orientation
14.1 were targeted because of their ethnicity/nation origin

Offenses

Of crimes against persons, nine people were murdered and two were raped
Intimidation accounted for 47.4 percent of crimes against persons
Simple assaults accounted for 31.1 percent
Aggravated assaults accounted for 20.6 percent

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FTC: Your Rights: Credit Reporting

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires each of the nationwide consumer reporting companies — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — to provide you with a free copy of your credit report, at your request, once every 12 months. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the nation's consumer protection agency, has prepared a brochure, Your Access to Free Credit Reports, explaining your rights under the FCRA and how to order a free annual credit report.

A credit report includes information on where you live, how you pay your bills, and whether you've been sued, arrested, or filed for bankruptcy. Nationwide consumer reporting companies sell the information in your report to creditors, insurers, employers, and other businesses that use it to evaluate your applications for credit, insurance, employment, or renting a home.

How do I order my free report?

You can order your free annual credit report online at annualcreditreport.com, by calling 1-877-322-8228, or by completing the Annual Credit Report Request Form and mailing it to: Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281.

When you order, you need to provide your name, address, Social Security number, and date of birth. To verify your identity, you may need to provide some information that only you would know, like the amount of your monthly mortgage payment.

A Warning About "Imposter" Sites

The FTC advises consumers who order their free annual credit reports online to be sure to correctly spell annualcreditreport.com, or link to it from the FTC's website to avoid being misdirected to other websites that offer supposedly free reports,but only with the purchase of other products. While consumers may be offered additional products or services while on the authorized website, they are not required to make a purchase to receive their free annual credit reports.

For more information on free annual credit reports, read Your Access to Free Credit Reports.