The FBI released its 2021 hate crime statistics, but the data falls short of providing a complete picture of targeted violence in the U.S. Despite rising concerns about targeted violence and domestic terrorism, less than two-thirds of law enforcement agencies reported data on hate crimes to the FBI, last year, marking a significant drop-off.Agency participation for hate crime statistics fell dramatically from 93% in 2020 to 65% in 2021. That drop comes as the FBI and the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics transition to a more detailed and comprehensive crime-reporting system, known as the "National Incident-Based Reporting System" or NIBRS. The new data collection method offers a more complete picture of crime in the nation, with additional information gathered about victims, offenders, and those arrested — including age, sex, and race, as well as a description of any relationship between victim and offender.Incidents of hate crimes are not decreasing, according to the FBI. But until participation in the FBI's new data collection programs increases, the bureau will not be able to make a meaningful comparison of the number of hate crimes with years past.
For reporting on anti-Jewish crimes, the inaccuracy is much worse - because the cities with the highest Jewish populations are not represented at all:
Ted Deutch, CEO of the American Jewish Committee, noted 35 major U.S. cities reported zero hate crimes in 2021. "The report provides a woefully inadequate assessment of the reality and extent of hate crimes targeting Jews in the United States," he said in a statement.
Major cities, including New York, Los Angeles and Miami, did not provide data to the bureau. Others, including Chicago and Phoenix, reported zero hate crimes in 2021, according to the FBI's report.
The FBI reports that anti-Jewish hate crimes decreased from 963 in 2019, to 683 in 2020, to only 324 in 2021.
Yet in New York City alone, there were 196 anti-Jewish incidents recorded in 2021. (And 195 this year through September only.)
In Los Angeles, there were over 80 anti-Jewish crimes in 2021.
Chicago reported only 8 antisemitic crimes last year but over 25 this year.
None of them are recorded in the FBI statistics. Even though these statistics are publicly reported, the FBI chooses to ignore them because they are not using the FBI's official system.
The FBI has always had a problem with many cities not reporting their statistics, but this is far worse than ever before. And now we cannot tell how much worse antisemitic crimes are getting.
