Indicator 66: Hate Crimes

 

Why This Is Important

Maine is seeing growth of a more and more diverse population that can benefit all
local communities. Incidents of hate crimes, and other violations related to bias and/or
prejudice, harm a community’s ability to meet the needs of all children and families in all
of their diversity. When people feel threatened, when property is damaged and when
people are attacked or killed because of hate, bias or prejudice, the whole community is
called upon to act.

 

 

Where We Stand

“Hate crimes” are criminal incidents motivated by bias against persons because of their
perceived race, religion, mental or physical disability, sexual orientation or ethnicity/national
origin. In Maine, they may include murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary,
larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, arson, simple assault, intimidation, vandalism and
harassment. Any particular hate crime incident may involve one or more offenders and one
or more victims; the 67 incidents in 2004 involved 100 victims with at least 67 offenders.

Local law enforcement agencies in Maine reported that the number of hate crime incidents
dropped between 1995 and 1999, before returning to the 1995 level in 2003. However,
there was a slight decline in the hate crimes in 2004. More than half of the incidents in
2004 were motivated by sexual orientation bias (52%), 37% from racial bias, 9% from
religious bias and 3% from ethnicity. These data may under-report the number of hate
crimes, since not all victims are willing to report incidents to police.

Data Sources and Context

Hate crime data is generated by local law enforcement agencies as part of the National
Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program. This program is administered by the State
Police in Maine, and all crime data from the UCR is published annually in Crime in Maine.
That data is available on-line at http://www.state.me.us/dps/cim/crime_in_maine/cim.htm.