THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, November 5, 1996 TAG: 9611050319
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A2 EDITION: FINAL
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: 31 lines
More than three out of every five hate crimes in 1995 were motivated by race, and blacks were the targets in three out of five of the racial attacks, the FBI reported Monday.
There were 20 hate crime murders during the year. The FBI did not categorize the murders by motive. Citing preliminary data, the FBI said 7,947 hate crimes were reported during 1995, but emphasized that its figures were incomplete. The bureau said the 1995 data could not be compared with previous yearly totals because the number of police agencies reporting had grown substantially.
Reporting is voluntary, and 9,500 police agencies in 45 states and the District of Columbia supplied data for 1995. Those agencies serve 75 percent of the U.S. population.
Race was the motivation in 4,831 of the crimes, or 60.8 percent. Of the racially motivated crimes, 2,988 incidents were directed at blacks, or 61.9 percent. Whites were targets of 1,226 of the racially motivated hate crimes, 25.4 percent.
Religious bias was the second most frequent motivation, with Jews the most frequent target.
Sexual orientation motivated 1,019 crimes, or 12.8 percent of the total. Attacks on male homosexuals accounted for 735, or 72.1 percent, of these crimes.
KEYWORDS: HATE CRIMES FBI STATISTICS by CNB