Hate Crimes Against Muslims Were Up 67 Percent in 2015, According to FBI

The FBI report revealed that hate crimes overall increased 67 percent in 2015.

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FBI

Last year saw a tragic surge in hate crimes against Muslim Americans, according to a new report from the FBI. According to the Uniform Crime Reporting Program's Hate Crime Statistics Report for 2015, hate crimes against Muslims increased by 67 percent last year. The report revealed that hate crimes overall increased 6.7 percent in 2015.

The 67 percent increase amounts to a total of 257 hate crimes against Muslims, compared to 154 in 2014. The total reported number of hate crimes in 2015 was 5,850, a majority of which the report states were racially motivated. 

Almost 57 percent of hate crimes reported in 2015 were "motivated by race/ ethnicity/ ancestry bias," according to the report, and 21 percent were based on "religious bias." 51.3 percent of religiously motivated hate crimes were anti-Semitic, and 22.2 percent were Muslim. 

Race-based hate crimes were primarily anti-Black in nature, according to the report. 52.7 percent of racially motivated hate crimes were anti-Black. 

Gender-based hate crimes made up 118 of the total hate crimes in 2015, with 75 percent of these crimes being anti-transgender, and 43 percent anti-gender non-conforming. The lesbian, gay and bisexual community was the target of 1,219 hate crimes last year, 62.2 percent of which were against gay men. 19.3 percent of sexual-orientation motivated hate crimes were an overall hate for the LGBT community.

The Southern Poverty Law Center says that people should first report hate crimes to law enforcement, then consider also reporting to the SPLC, who tracks hate groups and crimes around the country.

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