There was an increase in the number of hate crimes reported in Massachusetts and the rest of the nation overall, according to new data released by the FBI. FBI says hate crimes reports were up about 17 percent in 2017 nationwide, marking a rise for the third year in a row.
Among those were 12 hate incidents reported in Newton, in 2017 as follows.
- Race/Ethnicity Ancestry (3)
- Religion (7)
- Sexual orientation (2)
I don’t have time at the moment to dig out Newton’s comparable 2016 statistics, but if someone else does, please add them to the comments section.
The Human Rights Commission will meet tonight at 7:00 p.m. in Room 106C. They probably have the statistics or you could contact Lt. Bruce Apotheker, with the Newton Police.
The 2016 statistics are here:
https://bit.ly/2Fn5tz3
There were 21 hate crimes reported in Newton in 2016, with the following breakdown. (The breakdown totals to more than 21 because at least one incident was reported with multiple bias motivations.)
– Race/Ethnicity Ancestry (7)
– Religion (16)
– Gender identity (1)
Good to see that the number of reported crimes was significantly lower last year than in 2016, but there’s still plenty of room for improvement.
Thanks Allison
Reported ≠ actually happened
Incident ≠ crime
Also, the problem with so-called hate crimes/incidents is that the definition is entirely subjective. If some guy was rude to me at the gas station I could report that as a hate incident because I’m gay.
You can “report” it that way but it still needs to be investigated before it is classified as a hate crime.