Indicator: Hate Crimes

Outcome (s): Communities capable of meeting the needs of children and families in all of their diversity.

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. The 61 incidents occurring in 2005 involved 56 victims, perpetrated by 71 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 hate crimes in 2004 and again in 2005. 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. In 2005, the number of hate crimes attributed to sexual orientation bias dropped to 34%. A significant increase in religiously motivated crimes occurred in 2005, rising to 24.6 % of the total, from the previous 9% in 2004. These data may under-report the number of hate crimes, since not all victims are willing to report incidents to police.

Data Source 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 StatePolice 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.