RI Hate Crime Data Stays Even As U.S. Numbers Skyrocket: FBI

There were 11 hate crimes reported in Rhode Island in 2017, one less than the year prior, according to FBI data released Tuesday. The slight drop bucked the national trend in which America saw a 17 percent increase of reported hate crimes.

In Rhode Island, 5 of the hate crimes were motivated by the victim's race, ethnicity, or ancestry, 4 were motivated by religion, and 2 by sexual orientation.

Providence reported 6 hate crimes, East Providence 3, and Coventry and Johnston each 1. See the details in the chart below.

"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.

There were 7,175 incidents reported in America 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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