Patterns and Trends of Hate Crime in America

This chapter presents hate crime patterns and trends using data from the UCR Hate Crimes Statistics Program and the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). Comparisons are made between these two data collection systems, noting where the NCVS and UCR agree and differ in findings regarding the occurrence of hate crime. We observe overall and recent trends from the UCR data for all hate crime, and for hate crimes separated into bias motivation categories, bias types, and offense types. Using data from the NCVS, we show patterns among hate crime victims and offenders. We exhibit how the strengths of each of these data collection systems can be utilized to better understand the nature and scope of hate crime in the United States.