NCJ Number
235536
Date Published
2010
Length
27 pages
Annotation
This annual report presents information on reported crimes motivated by bias (hate crimes) that occurred in Tennessee in 2009.
Abstract
In deciding whether a hate crime has occurred (i.e., that a criminal offense has been motivated by an unlawful bias toward the victim), the Tennessee Incident Based Reporting System (TIBRS) requires that the investigation reveal "sufficient objective facts to cause a reasonable and prudent person to conclude that the offender's actions were motivated in whole or in part by bias against a racial, religious, ethnic/national origin, physical or mental disability, or sexual-orientation group." The report indicates that the 359 hate/bias offenses reported in 2009 constituted 0.06 percent of total offenses. The total number of such offenses decreased 14.1 percent from 2008; however, the category of "Unknown Bias" has shown a 32.3-percent increase during the same period. Racial-bias offenses composed 27.6 percent of all reported hate/bias offenses in 2009. Anti-African-American bias offenses represented 68.7 percent of the total number of bias offenses judged to be motivated by racial bias. Of the total number of hate/bias offenses, 14.5 percent involved sexual bias; 6.1 percent involved religious bias; 5.3 percent were attributed to bias based on victim's ethnicity/national origin; 0.8 percent was attributed to disability bias; and 45.7 percent were categorized as an "unknown" bias. Regarding the hours during which hate/bias offenses occurred, 19.8 percent were committed between 6:00 p.m. and 8:59 p.m., regarding the location of the offenses, 45.7 percent occurred at a residence/home. Males were the victims in 51.0 percent of the hate/bias offenses. The age group with the highest percentage of hate/bias victims was 25-34 years old (20.9 percent). Extensive tabular data and appended TIBRS Group A and Group B offense definitions