Hate Crimes In Maryland: FBI Report Shows Increase

MARYLAND — The country experienced a sharp increase in hate crimes in 2017 compared to 2016, according to a new FBI report. Law enforcement agencies across the country reported 7,175 hate crimes to the FBI last year, compared with 6,121 hate crimes in 2016.

Reports of such offenses were also on the rise in Maryland, where there were 48 hate crime incidents reported in 2017, compared with 37 hate crimes documented in 2016.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation defines a hate crime as an offense such as vandalism, arson or murder that is motivated in part by the perpetrator's bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender or gender identity.

Several of last year's hate crimes took place at two of the state's public universities, according to the FBI's annual Hate Crime Statistics report.

More than 20 percent of the hate crime incidents reported in Maryland occurred at University of Maryland campuses. There were four at the University of Maryland College Park and three at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, according to FBI data.

At UMBC, all three incidents were motivated by a religious bias, while at College Park, one was motivated by religious bias and three were motivated by race/ethnicity/ancestry.

Among them was the murder of Richard Collins III, 23, a Bowie State University student stabbed to death on the University of Maryland campus while visiting friends on May 20, 2017. A former University of Maryland College Park student, allegedly motivated by racial bias, has been charged with first-degree murder and a hate crime.

The murder of Collins was one of almost 280 hate crimes reported on college campuses in 2017 across the U.S., according to the Chronicle of Higher Education, which said the number was 257 in 2016.

In Maryland, the increase in hate crimes on college campuses was more pronounced. There was one hate crime reported to the FBI on a college campus in 2016, and that was at the University of Maryland College Park. The number increased eightfold in 2017, with the five at College Park and three at UMBC.

As a whole, the uptick in hate crimes on college campuses reported to the FBI is "an early indicator of campus-climate issues that many large universities and colleges are facing," the Chronicle of Higher Education reported, noting not all campuses submit the data.

Here were the agencies that reported hate crimes in 2017 to the FBI, from the most to least:

• Baltimore County: 10
• Anne Arundel County: 9
• Montgomery County: 6
• University of Maryland College Park: 5
• UMBC: 3
• Transit Administration: 2
• Wicomico County: 2
• Aberdeen: 1
• Annapolis: 1
• Baltimore City: 1
• Harford County: 1
• Howard County: 1
• Laurel: 1
• Prince George's County: 1
• Somerset County - State Police: 1
• State Fire Marshal: 1
• Taneytown: 1
• Westminster: 1

The FBI says 50.7 percent of known offenders were white, 21.3 percent were African-American and other races accounted for the remaining known offenders. According to the FBI, a “known offender” does not imply that a suspect’s identity is known but that “some aspect of the suspect was identified.”

Race, Religion Motivate Many Bias Incidents: FBI

According to the FBI, a majority of the victims of hate crimes nationwide (59.6 percent) were targeted because of a bias towards race, ethnicity or ancestry.

The second most common reason a victim was targeted was because of religion (20.6 percent) followed by sexual-orientation (15.8 percent), disability (1.9 percent), gender identity (1.6 percent) and gender (0.6 percent), according to the statistics.

"This report provides further evidence that more must be done to address the divisive climate of hate in America," Anti-Defamation League CEO and National Director Jonathan A. Greenblatt said in a statement. "That begins with leaders from all walks of life and from all sectors of society forcefully condemning antisemitism, bigotry and hate whenever it occurs."

Across the country, the FBI reported there was a 37 percent spike in anti-Jewish offenses and a 23 percent increase in overall religious-based crimes.

"Two weeks ago, we witnessed the most deadly anti-Semitic hate crime in American history. Today, we have another FBI study showing a big jump in hate crimes against Americans because of their race, religion, ethnicity and sexual orientation," Greenblatt said.

On Oct. 27, there were 11 people killed at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. The gunman, known for anti-Semitic rhetoric, allegedly walked into the building and yelled: "All Jews must die."

The 1,564 religion-based hate crimes reported in 2017 are the second-highest ever, according to the Anti-Defamation League. The highest number of such crimes were reported in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks, the league reports.

Whether there were more hate crimes in general or there were simply more reported is difficult to ascertain.

Experts say the FBI's annual hate crime statistics report provides an incomplete picture of the number of hate crimes in the country. The Anti-Defamation League noted that in the 2017 report, 91 cities that had a population of 100,000 or more either did not report any data to the FBI or reported 0 instances of hate crimes.

Baltimore City reported one hate crime in 2017 to the FBI, and that was related to gender identity.

Maryland State Police Report Shows More Incidents

Maryland State Police released a separate study called the State of Maryland 2017 Hate/Bias Report that looked at incidents that were not necessarily classified as crimes. In these cases, the person reporting or the officer who took the report perceived the incident was motivated by hate or bias. It did not necessarily have to meet the threshold of being a crime.

The Maryland State Police report found that there were 398 hate/bias incidents in Maryland in 2017. Baltimore County had the highest number of reports, with 103.

These were the areas with the most hate/bias incidents reported in 2017, according to police:

Police said that these counties had zero hate/bias incident reports in 2017: Allegany, Calvert, Caroline, Dorchester, Garrett, Kent, Queen Anne’s, St. Mary’s, Talbot, Washington and Worcester.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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