Hate Crimes Against Those With Disabilities Decline
Despite an uptick in the number of hate crimes reported across the nation, new federal figures suggest that fewer targeted people with disabilities.
Data released this week from the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program indicates that there were 88 reported hate crime offenses during 2015 related to disability bias. That’s down from 95 the previous year.
The decline in disability-related cases comes as the FBI indicated that the total number of hate crimes rose. Overall, the agency documented 5,850 incidents last year.
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Among hate crime victims, 1.2 percent were people with disabilities, the FBI said. In 52 cases, the offenses were motivated by a person’s physical disability while 36 involved those with mental disabilities.
The FBI tracks the number of crimes prompted by disability as well as race, ethnicity, ancestry, religion, sexual orientation, gender and gender identity.
The statistics are based on reports collected by nearly 15,000 law enforcement agencies nationwide.
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