The Federal Bureau of Investigation released its annual report “Crime in the United States” (CIUS) last month, which included data on hate crimes across the U.S., documenting 1,197 incidents in which the perpetrators’ motivating factor was victims’ actual or perceived sexual orientation. In 2003, 1,239 incidents were documented by the FBI.

The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs’ (NCAVP) report “Anti-Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Violence in 2004” documented a higher level of hate crime offenses at 1,792 incidents in 2004 compared to its 2003 figure of 1,720. This represented a 4 percent increase.

CIUS is an annual FBI publication produced from data provided by nearly 17,000 law enforcement agencies across the U.S. and part of the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, which has been collecting, publishing and archiving crime statistics since 1930.

“Hate Crime Statistics,” a separate report culled from the CIUS data, has been published annually since 1992, and is the byproduct of the joint effort between the FBI and the law enforcement agencies that identify and report hate crimes. Out of all bias-motivated offenses listed in the report, sexual orientation represented 15.6 percent of all hate crimes.

“They always have lower figures than us and probably for the foreseeable future, always will,” said NCAVP acting executive director Clarence Patton.

Patton explained there are a number of reasons for the discrepancies. He said there are no federal mandates for jurisdictions to submit hate crime data to the FBI. On a state level there may be mandates to report hate crimes related to state laws, but even then, it’s not guaranteed the crimes will be reported accurately, Patton explained. Some police personnel are not adequately trained to identify hate crimes, therefore the crimes are not accurately reported, he added.

According to the NCAVP, the FBI report consistently contains information on far fewer cases than their publication, because it relies on law enforcement reports to account for hate crime data, rather than victim service organization data or other community organizations.

“Even if you do a relative comparison we’d still wind up being far ahead of their numbers,” Patton said. “What we capture in our data goes from simple verbal harassment up to including murder. So we get things that don’t rise to the level of crime that are counted in our numbers.”

According to NCAVP data, anti-GLBT murders rose 11 percent from a total of 18 in 2003 to 20 in 2004. During 2004, the total number of victims rose 4 percent, from 2,042 in 2003 to 2,131 in 2004. The number of offenders rose by 7 percent from 2,467 to 2,637. The NCAVP documented hate-related incidents in 11 cities, states and regions across the country.

The FBI’s data differs. They documented 1,482 victims and 1,258 offenders. The number of agencies reporting hate crime data into the FBI was 12,711, which included 725 in the state of California.

Locally, the San Diego Regional Hate Crimes Coalition is a group of law enforcement agencies and community-based organizations that work together to educate the community about hate crimes and to respond to community needs. AJ Davis, The Center’s director of public policy, has been involved for over three years. The Coalition meets monthly with about 25-40 people attending, ranging from law enforcement personnel to members of community organizations.

The Center maintains a hate crimes/incidents log and Davis works closely with San Diego Police Department’s GLBT liaison Margy Schaufelberger, the Hate Crimes Coalition and the Sheriff’s Department to ensure all parties are aware of hate crimes and other incidents occurring within the GLBT community.

“Often folks are uncomfortable reporting to law enforcement. In that case, we will either arrange for an officer to come to The Center and take their report with us there with them, or I will report it to the appropriate law enforcement agency with or without names depending on what the victim wants,” Davis said.

According to the San Diego Regional Hate Crimes Procedural Manual for Law Enforcement Officers, a hate crime is any criminal act or attempted criminal act, motivated, in whole or part, by the victim's actual or perceived race, nationality, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or physical or mental disability. A hate incident is a non-criminal act motivated, in whole or in part, by the offender’s bias against a person because of his or her race, religion, ethnicity, national origin, gender, disability or sexual orientation.

“Most of the incidents in the log for this year and last involve name-calling, threatening behavior and such incidents as egg-throwing. I have seen a distinct drop off in reporting over the last couple of years, however, I do not believe that is due to a drop in hate crimes,” she said.

Davis is not surprised that the NCAVP’s data on hate crimes is more extensive than the FBI’s report.

“There are no federal hate crimes laws that cover sexual orientation or gender identity/expression. Therefore, the FBI – or any other federal agency – would not have accurate data. Unfortunately, due to a lack of reporting on the community’s part, essentially all hate crimes categories are underreported,” Davis said. “It is disheartening – to say the least – that a country claiming to stand for justice, liberty and equality refuses to afford basic protections against violence to some of its most vulnerable citizens.”

For more information about hate crimes and how to report an incident or hate crime, visit www.thecentersd.org/policy3.asp.

“It would not be surprising if there was an increase in hate crimes/incidents in the coming year as we get closer to the election where the people of California will be voting on whether or not to prohibit marriage equality and domestic partnership,” Davis said. “The increased visibility of our community and increased hostility from those who stand against us may lead to an increase in incidents.”