NCJ Number
236760
Date Published
September 2009
Length
25 pages
Annotation
This report presents data on hate crimes in Massachusetts for 2008, based on data voluntarily supplied from police departments across the Commonwealth.
Abstract
The Commonwealth Fusion Center's Crime Reporting Unit received 332 reports of incidents of hate crime (down from 350 in 2007) based on reports from 81 municipal police departments, transit police, and 10 campus police agencies. An additional 226 municipal police departments, 22 campus police agencies, 21 State police locations, 6 transit police locations, and 2 specialized agencies reported they had no reports of hate crimes for 2008. Prejudice against race/ethnicity or national origin was the most widely reported bias motivation for hate crimes, representing 57.7 percent of the total. The largest category of bias incidents were anti-Black, with 32.6 percent of all incidents, or 112 of the reported incidents. Bias against sexual orientation was the second most reported hate crime (22.1 percent of the total); and religious bias was the third most prevalent bias motivation (18.6 percent of the total). For the second year in a row, females were on the rise as both the victims and offender with respect to hate crimes. In 2008, females composed 37.4 percent of victims compared to 33.2 percent in 2007 (an increase of 11.2 percent). Victims were reported to be injured in a small percentage of cases. Bias incidents reported by police occurred in a variety of locations, both public and private. Individuals rather than symbols were targeted for the crimes. As in 2007, firearms were used in only two cases, accounting for less than 1 percent of the incidents. No use of weapons was reported in 59.6 percent of the 282 reports in which this information was provided, up 8.8 percent from 2007. In 63 incidents, hands, fists, or feet were used (22.3 percent). 20 tables