Hate Crimes Rose 8 Percent in 2006*

Tuesday November 20, 2007 12:16 AM

By MICHAEL J. SNIFFEN

Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - Hate crime incidents rose nearly 8 percent last year,
the FBI reported Monday, as civil rights advocates increasingly take to
the streets to protest what they call official indifference to
intimidation and attacks against blacks and other minorities.

Police across the nation reported 7,722 criminal incidents in 2006
targeting victims or property as a result of bias against a race,
religion, sexual orientation, ethnic or national origin or physical or
mental disability. That was up 7.8 percent from 7,163 incidents reported
in 2005.

More than half the incidents were motivated by racial prejudice, but the
report did not even pick up all the racially motivated incidents last year.

Although the noose incidents and beatings among students at Jena, La.,
high school occurred in the last half of 2006, they were not included in
the report. Only 12,600 of the nation's more than 17,000 local, county,
state and federal police agencies participated in the hate crime
reporting program in 2006 and neither Jena nor LaSalle Parish, in which
the town is located, were among the agencies reporting.

Nevertheless, the Jena incidents, and a subsequent rash of noose and
other racial incidents around the country, have spawned civil rights
demonstrations that culminated last week at Justice Department
headquarters here. The department said it investigated the Jena incident
but decided not to prosecute because the federal government does not
typically bring hate crime charges against juveniles.

Organizers said 100 busloads of protesters joined Friday's march here.
In September, an estimated 20,000 protesters marched through Jena. On
Nov. 3, hundreds of protesters marched through downtown Charleston, W.
Va., to urge prosecutors to add hate crime charges against six white
people charged in the beating, torture and sexual assault of a
20-year-old black woman who was discovered Sept. 8 after several days of
alleged captivity in a rural trailer.

The Jena case began in August 2006 after a black student sat under a
tree known as a gathering spot for white students. Three white students
later hung nooses from the tree. They were suspended by the school but
not prosecuted. Six black teenagers, however, were charged by LaSalle
Parish prosecutor Reed Walters with attempted second-degree murder of a
white student who was beaten unconscious in December 2006. The charges
have since been reduced to aggravated second-degree assault, but civil
rights protesters have complained that no charges were filed against the
white students who hung the nooses.

``The FBI report confirms what we have been saying for many months about
the severe increase in hate crimes,'' said the Rev. Al Sharpton, who
organized Friday's march. ``What is not reported, however, is the lack
of prosecution and serious investigation by the Justice Department to
counter this increase in hate crimes.'' Sharpton called for Attorney
General Michael Mukasey to meet with members of the Congressional Black
Caucus and civil rights leaders to discuss this enforcement.

Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse noted that Mukasey praised
the civil rights movement at his confirmation hearings and plans over
the next several months to meet ``with a number of groups and
individuals who have an interest in or concerns about the work'' of the
department. Roehrkasse also noted that federal prosecutors convicted a
record 189 defendants of civil rights violations in the fiscal year that
ended Sept. 30.

The Justice Department says it is actively investigating a number of
noose incidents at schools, workplaces and neighborhoods around the
country. It says ``a noose is a powerful symbol of hate and racially
motivated violence'' recalling the days of lynchings of blacks and that
it can constitute a federal civil rights offense under some circumstances.

The FBI report does not break out the number of noose incidents but the
two most frequent hate crimes in 2006 were property damage or vandalism,
at 2,911 offenses, and intimidation, at 2,046 offenses. There were 3
murders, 6 rapes, 860 aggravated assaults, 1,447 simple assaults and 41
arsons. Other offenses included robbery, burglary, larceny, and motor
vehicle theft.

The 7,722 hate crime incidents involved 9,080 specific criminal
offenses, include 5,449 against individuals, 3,593 against property and
38 classified as against society at large. A single incident can be
aimed at both people and property.

Since the FBI began collecting hate crime data in 1991, the most
frequent motivation has been racial bias, accounting for 51.8 percent of
incidents in 2006, down from the 54.7 in 2005.

Also in 2006, religious bias was blamed for 18.9 percent of the
incidents; sexual orientation bias for 15.5 percent, and ethnic or
national origin - for 12.7 percent.

``This FBI report confirms ... that hate crimes protections for the gay,
lesbian, bisexual and transgender community are long overdue,'' said Joe
Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, a civil rights group.
Solmonese called on Congress to pass pending legislation that would
expand the federal hate crime statute to cover crimes motivated by
sexual orientation. The law currently covers only crimes based on race,
color, religious or national origin.

Lack of full participation by the more than 17,000 police agencies
around the nation somewhat undermines year-to-year comparisons.

For instance, in 2004, 12,711 agencies reported 7,649 incidents. In
2005, only 12,417 agencies reported and incidents dropped 6 percent to
7,163. But in 2006, agencies reporting rose to 12,620 and incidents
climbed 7.8 percent to 7,722.

In 2006, police identified 7,330 offenders; 58.6 percent white, 20.6
percent black, 12.9 percent race unknown and the rest other races.
Thirty-one percent of incidents occurred near residences; 18 percent on
roads; 12.2 percent at colleges or schools, 6.1 percent in parking lots
or garages, 3.9 percent at churches, synagogues or temples, and the
remainder elsewhere.

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