NCJ Number
143612
Date Published
1993
Length
14 pages
Annotation
Based on Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) data submitted by police departments in New Jersey, this report describes bias crimes which occurred in 1992; the statistics are compared to figures from the previous year.
Abstract
A bias incident is defined here as any suspected or confirmed offense which occurs to a person or property on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation. In 1992, New Jersey police reported 1,303 actual bias incident offenses, an increase of 34 percent over 1991 figures. Harassment accounted for 34 percent of all bias incident events, while criminal mischief and damage to property accounted for another 30 percent. Racial bias was the motive in 57 percent of all bias crimes in 1992. Blacks were the most frequently targeted racial group, Jews the most frequently targeted religious group, and Hispanics the most frequently targeted ethnic group in the State. Bias incidents occurred most frequently in a residence, in May, and on Tuesdays. Forty-three percent of all bias crimes were cleared, resulting in 444 arrests, a 40-percent increase over arrests made in 1991. UCR data could not substantiate the involvement of organized hate groups in any of the reported incidents.