Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta Issues Statement on the FBI’s Supplemental 2021 Hate Crime Statistics

The Justice Department issued following statement from Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta on the FBI’s announcement of the 2021 hate crime statistics supplement:

“Preventing, investigating and prosecuting hate crimes are top priorities for the Justice Department, and reporting is key to each of those priorities. The FBI’s supplemental report demonstrates our unwavering commitment to work with our state and local partners to increase reporting and provide a more complete picture of hate crimes nationwide. We will not stop here: We are continuing to work with state and local law enforcement agencies across the country to increase the reporting of hate crime statistics to the FBI. Hate crimes and the devastation they cause communities have no place in this country. The Justice Department is committed to every tool and resource at our disposal to combat bias-motivated violence in all its forms.”

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Additional information on hate crime statistics collection:

The FBI’s 2021 Hate Crime Statistics Supplemental Report released in December 2022, was the first year using annual hate crimes statistics reported entirely through the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS). Compared to the previous crime data collection system, NIBRS collects significantly more detailed data for each individual criminal incident. Since 2016, the Justice Department has worked with law enforcement agencies to assist in their transition to reporting crime data through NIBRS, including allocating over $120 million in grants to support agencies’ transition.

As a result of the shift to NIBRS-only data collection, law enforcement agency participation in submitting all crime statistics, including hate crimes, fell significantly from 2020 to 2021. Several of the nation’s largest law enforcement agencies, as well as some states, did not make the transition to NIBRS in time to submit data prior to the reporting deadline, and were not included in the 2021 Hate Crime Statistics.

In order to increase agency participation for the 2021 data year, the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program accepted hate crime data submissions from the summary reporting data collection system and additional NIBRS hate crime reports from 3,025 agencies that covered a combined population of 87,239,467 to help compile this supplemental report. As a result, 14,859 agencies covering 91.1% of the population are represented in this report compared to the 11,834 agencies representing 64.8% represented in the December 2022 report. Nationally, reported hate crime incidents increased 11.6% from 2020 to 2021.

Steps taken by the Justice Department since January 2021 in response to a rise in hate crimes and hate incidents include:  

• Aggressively investigating and prosecuting hate crimes – the department has charged more than 70 defendants in over 60 different cases and secured more than 60 convictions of defendants;
• Designating a Deputy Associate Attorney General as the department’s first-ever Anti-Hate Crimes Resources Coordinator;
• Designating the chief of the Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division to serve in role of facilitating the expedited review of hate crimes;
• Designating an inaugural Language Access Coordinator to improve knowledge, use and expansion of the department’s language resources;
• Announcing that by September 2023 all 94 U.S. Attorneys’ Offices will host a United Against Hate program to help improve the reporting of hate crimes by teaching community members how to identify, report and help prevent hate crimes and to provide an opportunity for trust building between law enforcement and communities;
• Elevating civil rights violations and hate crimes enforcement for prioritization among the FBI’s 56 field offices;
• Designating at least one Assistant U.S. Attorney as a Civil Rights Coordinator in every U.S. Attorney’s Office (USAO);
• Facilitating FBI-hosted regional conferences across the country with state and local law enforcement agencies regarding federal civil rights and hate crimes laws; to encourage reporting; strengthen relationships between law enforcement and local civil rights organizations; and build trust within the diverse communities they serve;
• Launching an FBI-led National Anti-Hate Crimes Campaign involving all 56 FBI field offices to encourage reporting. The campaign includes outdoor advertising, billboards and radio streaming in addition to social media;
• Revitalizing the Community Relations Service (CRS) by, among other things, facilitating nearly a dozen Protecting Places of Worship forums to provide interfaith communities with resources and information on securing their places of worship, help faith leaders build relationships with law enforcement;
• Adding information to the department’s website on reporting hate crimes in 24 languages, including 18 of the most frequently spoken AAPI languages in the United States;
• Awarding over $32 million in grant funding, including through the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Program, which supports state, local and Tribal law enforcement and prosecution, victim assistance and public awareness; the Community Based Approaches to Prevent and Address Hate Crimes initiative, which promotes community awareness, preparedness and responsiveness; the Jabara-Heyer NO HATE Act State-Run Hate Crime Reporting Hotlines Program; and the Community IMPACT program, which supports community organizations in their efforts to serve and support victims of hate crimes; and
• With the Department of Education, issuing facts sheets addressing harassment and discrimination in school, including harassment based on COVID-19 related issues, harassment of LGBTQI+ students and discrimination based on national origin and immigration status.

More information about the department’s response to hate crimes is available here.