The number of reported hate crimes in the United States remained steady in 2010, according to the FBI's annual hate-crime report.
There were 6,628 hate crime incidents reported last year, while 6,604 were reported in 2009, the FBI announced Monday.
The agency reported that 47% of the incidents with a single motivation were driven by race, while religion was the reason behind about 20% of the single-bias attacks. Biases against victims because of their sexual orientation made up 19% of the crimes, while nearly 13% were because of the victim's ethnicity or national origin. Less than 1% of the single-bias crimes were because of a person's disability.
The hate crimes included vandalism, intimidation, assault and other crimes against persons, property and society because of the victim's race, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity, or disability.
Other notable points from the "Hate Crime Statistics, 2010," include:
- There were 4,824 hate crime offenses classified as crimes against persons. Intimidation accounted for 46.2% of these crimes, simple assaults for 34.8%, and aggravated assaults for 18.4%. In addition, seven murders were reported as hate crimes.
- There were 2,861 hate crime offenses classified as crimes against property; most of these (81.1%) were acts of destruction/damage/vandalism. The remaining 18.9% of crimes against property consisted of robbery, burglary, larceny theft, motor vehicle theft, arson, and other offenses.
- Of the 6,008 known offenders, 58.6% were white and 18.4% were black. For 12%, the race was unknown, and the remaining known offenders were of other races.
- The largest percentage (31.4%) of hate crime incidents occurred in or near homes. Another 17% took place on highways, roads, alleys, or streets; 10.9% happened at schools or colleges; 5.8% in parking lots or garages; and 3.7% in churches, synagogues, or temples. The location was considered other or unknown for 14.3% of hate crime incidents. The remaining 16.9% of hate crime incidents took place at other specified locations or multiple locations.
FBI: Blacks, Jews Most Likely Hate-Crime Victims