Jews were the most frequent targets of hate crimes based on religion in 1992, according to a new FBI report.
Crimes against Jews constituted an overwhelming 87 percent of all reported crimes motivated by bias against religious groups in 1992. The figure was 86 percent in 1991.
The Anti-Defamation League welcomed the report, but called for broader future studies that would make the statistics more reliable.
According to Michael Lieberman, associate director of ADL’s Washington office, less than half of American law-enforcement agencies provided information for the FBI’s report.
In addition, Lieberman said, the FBI report does not list hate crimes for counties or cities, making it harder to pinpoint problem areas.
“We commend the FBI for its initial outreach and education program, but there is still much work to be done,” Melvin Salberg, ADL national chairman, and Abraham Foxman, ADL national director, said in a statement Tuesday.
The FBI is required by the Hate Crimes Statistics Act to submit this report annually.
“A message must be sent to hatemongers that this country believes in zero tolerance when it comes to bias-related crimes,” said Rep. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), who sponsored the legislation that calls for this report.
The report divides hate crimes into four categories: crimes motivated by a bias against religion, race, ethnicity and sexual origin.
Crimes motivated by religious bias constitured 15.4 percent of all hate crimes reported.
Anti-Jewish crimes made up 13.4 percent of all hate crimes from any category. In 1991, when far fewer enforcement agencies reported their hate crime statistics to the FBI, anti-Jewish crimes constituted 16.7 percent of the total.
The next most targeted religious group in 1992 was Protestants, at 0.4 percent. Crimes against Muslims made up 0.2 percent of the total.
The report was released following an attack on Lubavitch students on the Brooklyn Bridge in New York in which one died and another remains gravely wounded.
That attack “serves as a reminder to all Americans that we have a moral obligation to confront anti-Semitism wherever it surfaces,” Schumer said.
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