Schools are the third most common location for hate crimes: FBI
Schools were the third most common location for hate crimes in the U.S. in a recent five-year stretch, per new FBI data.
The big picture: After homes and roadways, schools from pre-school to twelfth grade made up 10% of hate crimes in 2022, the Federal Bureau of Investigation report, released Monday, said.
- The report defines a hate crime as "a committed criminal offense" motivated by race, ethnicity, ancestry, religion, sexual orientation, disability, gender or gender identity.
By the numbers: 4,343 hate crimes occurred at any school level from 2018 to 2022, per the report.
- In 2022, 10% of total reported hate crime offenses occurred in schools. In 2018, this figure was 8.2%.
- A 2020 downturn (to 3.9%) was likely due to online learning because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Overall, about 31% of youth hate crime victims experienced them at school, amounting to 2,134 people.
What they found: The most commonly reported bias at schools was against Black people.
- This was followed by antisemitic and anti-LGBTQ offenses.
- Elementary and secondary schools reported more hate crimes than colleges and universities.
- October received more hate crime reports than other months.
Threat level: Intimidation, destruction, damage, vandalism and simple assault were the most frequently reported offenses.
- "Analyzing commonalities of reported hate crime offenses in schools can facilitate strategies to mitigate or prevent these offenses in the future," the FBI report said.
Zoom out: The FBI's report didn't include data from 2023, but a separate report revealed hate crimes surged in some large U.S. cities last year.
- Those include Houston, San Diego, Chicago, Los Angeles and Austin, the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism's report said.
- This was the third straight year of spikes in big cities' overall average number of hate crimes.
Go deeper: Largest US cities saw record hate crimes surge in 2023