Hate Crime

• According to the 1997 FBI Uniform Crime Report, there were 8,049 hate crime incidents reported to the FBI.

• African-Americans are the most frequent targets of hate crime, by a factor of three to one. Homosexuals are the next group most frequently attacked, followed closely by whites and Jews. ("Hate Crime Statistics 1997," U.S. Department of Justice, FBI, Criminal Justice Information Services Division).

• A large number of hate crime perpetrators are youthful thrill-seekers -- 60 percent of offenders committed crimes for the thrill associated with the victimization. The second most common perpetrator is the reactive offender who feels that he is answering an attack by his victim. The least common is the hard-core fanatic who is driven by racial or religious ideology or ethnic bigotry and is often a member of, or a potential recruit for an extremist organization. (1993 Northeastern University study).

• Whites committed 4,523 or 63 percent of the reported hate crimes; 19 percent of the perpetrators were African-American. ("Hate Crime Statistics 1997," U.S. Department of Justice, FBI, Criminal Justice Information Services Division).

• As of 1999, there are a total of 11 states which do not have any kind of hate crime laws -- South Carolina, Hawaii, Wyoming, New York, Kentucky, Rhode Island, New Mexico, Kansas, Arkansas, Georgia and Indiana. (Anti-Defamation League Web page; <www.adl.org>).

• Nationwide, it is estimated that there are as many as 31,000 street gangs with a total membership of 846,000. In addition, almost three-quarters of cities with populations of more than 25,000 reported youth gangs in 1996. ("The 1996 National Youth Gang Survey," OJJDP Fact Sheet #86, Nov. 1998).

• Fifty-seven percent of violent crimes committed by juveniles occurs on school days. (Snyder, Howard. "Times of Day Juveniles are Most Likely to Commit Violent Crime Index Offenses." Adapted from Sickmund, M., Snyder, H., Poe-Yamagata, E. Juvenile Offenders and Victims: 1997 Update on Violence. OJJDP Statistical Briefing Book. 30 September 1998).

• Youth ages 12 to 19 are ten times more likely than their parents and grandparents to be the victims of violent crime. (National Crime Prevention Council, Speaking Out for Youth & Justice Kit for Community Leaders).

• The growth in juvenile homicide victimizations from the mid-1980s through 1994 was completely attributable to firearms deaths. (National Crime Prevention Council, Speaking Out for Youth & Justice Kit for Community Leaders).

• According to a February 1997 report by the Centers for Disease Control, the rate of firearm deaths among children 0 to 14 years old is nearly twelve times higher in the U.S. than in 25 other industrialized countries combined.

• Almost half of teens have changed their behavior because of fear of crime, including skipping school, changing routes to and from school, avoiding certain places or changing friends. But almost nine out of ten were willing to get involved in prevention programs, if only they knew how. (National Crime Prevention Council, Speaking Out for Youth & Justice Kit for Community Leaders).

• Youth who are serious, chronic and violent offenders make up less than half of one percent of youth who come into contact with the juvenile justice system. (National Crime Prevention Council, Speaking Out for Youth & Justice Kit for Community Leaders).

• In 1991, 43 percent of juveniles in detention centers were black, 35 percent were white and 19 percent were Hispanic. (Disproportionate Minority Confinement, OJJDP Fact Sheet #11, April 1994).

• According to the 1997 National Crime Victimization Survey, U.S. residents age 12 or older experienced approximately 34.8 million crimes (25.8 million were property crimes and 8.6 million were crimes of violence), despite the fact that property and violent crimes rates were the lowest recorded since the survey's inception in 1973; a downward trend that began in 1994-95.

• Overall, 16 percent of convicted jail inmates said they had committed their offenses to get money for drugs. An estimated 58 percent of federal inmates and 21 percent of state inmates were serving a sentence for a drug offense in 1991.

• At the end of 1996, 5.5 million people were on probation, in jail or on parole. If recent incarceration rates remain unchanged, an estimated 1 of every 20 persons (5.1 percent) will serve time in a prison during their lifetime.

• Based on current rates of first incarceration, an estimated 28 percent of black males will enter state or federal prison during their lifetime, compared to 15 percent of Hispanic males and 4.4 percent of white males.

• Of the 108,580 persons released from prisons in 11 states in 1983, an estimated 62.5 percent were rearrested for a felony or serious misdemeanor within three years, 46.8 percent were reconvicted, and 41.4 percent returned to prison or jail.