Hate crimes against Asians rose by 76% in 2020 – FBI
A protest against surging anti-Asian hate crimes during the pandemic. REUTERS
Newly republished data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation show that hate crimes against people of Asian descent rose by 76% in 2020.
The republication corrects previous FBI data issued in August, which were incomplete due to a technical problem in Ohio’s reporting system that has now been fixed.
Reported hate crime incidents in 2020 against persons of Asian descent numbered 279; there were 158 reported incidents in 2019.
More than 60% of hate crimes in the United States were carried out because of the victim’s race, according to the newly released FBI data.
Jay Greenberg, deputy assistant director of the FBI’s criminal division, told ABC News that most
hate crimes are directed at African Americans, but there was an uptick in anti-Asian hate crimes due to COVID-19.
In total, there were 8,052 single-bias incidents — crimes motivated by one type of bias — involving 11,126 victims. Comparatively, there were 7,103 single-bias incidents involving 8,552 victims in 2019.
The FBI said 20% of the hate crimes targeted a person’s sexual orientation and 13% of the hate crimes that occurred in 2020 were due to religious bias.
More than half of the offenders were white, and 21% of the offenders were African American.
