NH Hate Crimes Reports Drop By More Than 50 Percent: FBI

Hate crimes reported in New Hampshire were cut by more than half in 2017 as opposed to the year prior, according to FBI data released Tuesday. The sharp decrease comes as the nationwide number spiked by 17 percent.

There were 13 hate crimes reported in New Hampshire last year, 8 of which were motivated by the victim's race, ethnicity, or ancestry, 4 of which were motivated by the victim's religion, and 1 of which was motivated by the victim's sexual orientation.

"The FBI data confirms that hate and bias have become part of daily life in America," Robert Trestan, New England regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, said in statement.

No New Hampshire community reported more than one hate crime. The University of New Hampshire and Grafton County State Police each reported one. You can see the full New Hampshire list below:

Meanwhile, there were 7,175 hate crimes reported across the country in 2017, more than 1,000 more than in 2016.

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

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

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

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 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.

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