MA Hate Crimes Increase As U.S. Numbers Skyrocket: FBI Data

Massachusetts saw a 9 percent increase in hate crimes in 2017 over the year before, a troubling trend, but one that still doesn't compare to the nationwide increase, according to FBI data released Tuesday.

In Massachusetts, 427 hate crimes were reported in 2017, the most since at least 2000, the Anti-Defamation League said. Of those, 232 were motivated by the victim's race, ethnicity, or ancestry. Another 118 reported hate crimes were motivated by the victim's religion, 65 by sexual orientation, nine by disability, nine by gender identity and eight by gender.

"The hateful rhetoric and hate speech that has seeped its way to everyday life is translating into actual crimes being committed against people," Robert Trestan, New England regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, told Patch over the phone.

Boston saw 140 reported hate crimes - 79 of which were motivated by the victim's race, ethnicity, or ancestry, 33 by the victim's sexual orientation and 28 by the victim's religion, the FBI said.

Arlington had 14 reported hate crimes, Salem 13, Newton 12, Quincy 11 and Cambridge and Somerville 10 each. Quincy and Salem each had eight crimes motivated by the victim's race, ethnicity, or ancestry.

You can see the full list of hate crimes reported in Massachusetts below.

The statewide spike in hate crimes paled in comparison to the nationwide increase of 17 percent. There were 7,175 such incidents reported in America in 2017, more than 1,000 more than in 2016.

The FBI said nearly 60 percent of last year's nationally reported hate crimes related to race, ethnicity, or ancestry. Of those, almost half were victims of crimes motivated by anti-black or African-American bias.

Roughly 20 percent of the reported hate crimes were based on religion, including a 37 percent spike in anti-Jewish offenses.

"The alarming increase in crimes targeting Jews is evidence that the oldest form of hate continues to proliferate in the U.S.," Trestan said.

Of the remaining reported hate crimes, 16 percent were motivated by sexual orientation, 2 percent by disability, 2 percent by gender-identity, and 1 percent by gender.

Trestan said a potential silver lining is that more agencies are reporting the data, something that isn't required. Experts say the annual hate crime statistics report provides an incomplete picture of the number of hate crimes in the country. The ADL noted that in the 2017 report, 91 cities with a population of 100,000 or more either did not report any data to the FBI or reported no instances of hate crimes.

There is no simple solution to stopping the spread of hatred, but Trestan called on people do their small part.

"It needs to be second nature for people and leaders to call out hate when they hear and see it and to be conscious of the words that we use," Trestan said.

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