Crimes committed in 2002 due to bias against the victim’s perceived sexual orientation represent 16.7 percent of reported hate-crime incidents—the highest level in the 12 years since the FBI began collecting these statistics, according to data released Oct. 27 in the FBI report ‘Crime in the United States in 2002.’
Sexual orientation bias represents the third highest category of reported hate crimes. Racial bias continues to represent the largest percentage of bias-motivated incidents at 48.8 percent, followed by religious bias at 19.1 percent. Disability bias, at 0.6 percent, represents the lowest percentage.
The number of agencies participating in this report reached 12,073—up from 2,771 in 1991, the year the FBI began collecting this data. However, only 1,868 agencies actually reported a single hate crime; the rest reported zero.
The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs said the report showing an 11 percent decrease in 2002 in hate crimes motivated by sexual orientation fell well short of the number tracked by the NCAVP.
According to the FBI, 1,244 hate crime incidents involving 1,513 GLBT victims were reported in 2002. The NCAVP counted 1,968 incidents in only 12 regions.