March 13, 2023 — New York
The FBI today released supplemental data for its 2021 Hate Crimes Statistics Report, which American Jewish Committee CEO Ted Deutch criticized in December for being “woefully inadequate” at a time when antisemitic incidents had reached record levels.
AJC released this statement about the supplemental report:
We welcome additional data in the 2021 Hate Crimes Statistics Report and thank the FBI for efforts to bridge the gap from the incomplete data in the report, which is the only official record on the state of hate in America.
Supplemental hate crimes data was reported from 96 agencies in nine states and reflects hate crimes data from major Jewish population centers such as Los Angeles and New York City.
We applaud the Biden administration for its efforts to tackle the rise in hate across the country, specifically antisemitism, with the rollout of its action plan, the DOJ’s United Against Hate initiative.
The supplemental data was collected through the FBI's outreach to agencies that were not able to meet the March 2022 deadline to submit data to the National Incident Based Reporting System. Underreporting of hate crimes is a problem for all targeted minority groups that regularly face incidents of hate.
Too many instances of hate go unreported. Heather Heyer and Khalid Jabara, for whom the Jabara-Heyer NO HATE Act was named, were two such victims, killed a year apart in different states. While those charged with their murders were charged with hate crimes, the annual FBI report did not reflect it, underscoring that all casualties of hate must count and be counted.
Without better data, we will not be able to understand how to address the issue of hate crimes across America.
