Crime & Safety
Washington Leads U.S. In Reported Hate Crimes
Washington reported the most hate crimes in 2017 behind only California and New York, according to new FBI statistics.
BELLEVUE, WA - New FBI statistics released this week show that Washington had the third-highest number of reported hate crimes in 2017 in the U.S. behind only California and New York.
Nationwide, the FBI tracked a 17 percent rise in reported hate crimes between 2016 and 2017. Of the 7,175 total reported, 510 hate crimes were reported in Washington in 2017. That's a nearly 32 percent increase over 2016, when 387 hate crimes were reported in Washington.
The types of hate crimes reported in Washington track with national trends. In 2017, the most common hate crimes involved race/ethnicity (323), religion (88), sexual orientation (79), gender identity (15), gender (4), and disability (1).
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Hate crimes were most likely to be committed in public, according to the FBI. Nearly half of all hate crimes happened either near a victim's home or while driving or walking along a sidewalk.
Here are the totals for some Puget Sound cities, according to the FBI (some cities, like Sammamish and Lake Forest Park, reported zero hate crimes):
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- Auburn: 5
- Bellevue: 16
- Burien: 3
- Edmonds: 6
- Federal Way: 1
- Issaquah: 5
- Kent: 15
- Kirkland: 5
- Redmond: 3
- Renton: 6
- Shoreline: 2
- Seattle: 234
File photo by Neal McNamara/Patch
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