Pilot survey of hate crime

Twelve major Canadian police forces reported a total of 928 hate crime incidents during 2001 and 2002. While the majority of these incidents involved one hate motivation, in some cases more than one motivation was recorded. Overall, over one-half of these hate crimes were motivated by race or ethnicity (57%). The second most-common hate motivation of incidents was religion (43%). Sexual orientation was the motivation in about one-tenth of incidents.

Blacks and South Asians were among those most frequently targeted in hate crime incidents motivated by race or ethnicity. The majority of incidents motivated by religion involved anti-Semitism followed by those targeting Muslims.

The largest single group identified in the pilot survey was Jewish people or institutions. One quarter of the 928 hate crime incidents reported by the 12 participating police services was anti-Semitic in nature.

The most common types of hate crime violations included mischief or vandalism (29%), assault (25%), uttering threats (20%), and hate propaganda (13%). These offence types varied based on the hate crime motivation.

Just over one-half (53%) of hate crimes based on race/ethnicity were against the person, including assault and uttering threats, criminal harassment and robbery. In the case of anti-religion hate crimes, about two-thirds included acts of vandalism, arson, other property offences and hate propaganda.

Individuals targeted because of their sexual orientation were more likely than other groups to suffer violent crimes, including assault and uttering threats.

Victims: Impact of hate crimes far-reaching

Some facets of hate crime, such as fear of becoming a victim of an ethno-culturally motivated hate crime, were measured by the Ethnic Diversity Survey (EDS), which looked at the impact on the visible minority population and various religious faiths.

The EDS found that in 2002, 5% of Canadians aged 15 and over were worried about being the victim of an ethno-cultural hate crime. This figure increased to 11% among the visible minority population. Those of Hindu, Jewish and Muslim faiths also expressed levels of fear that were higher than the general population.

During 2001 and 2002, victims were identified in over 80% of the 928 hate crime incidents reported by the 12 participating police forces. Almost all incidents involved a single victim.

In total, there were 794 victims with an average age of 36, and two-thirds were male.

The pilot survey found that in cases where the relationship of the accused was identified, about 83% of victims did not know the perpetrator. An additional 15% of victims stated that the accused was a casual acquaintance or had a business relationship with them.

One-half (49%) of the 447 violent hate crimes involved the threat of force. Physical force was actually used in 34% of these incidents. A weapon, most often a knife or other piercing or cutting object, was present in about 17% of violent crime incidents. Firearm-like weapons, such as pellet guns, were present in three incidents.

Overall, one quarter of victims of a violent crime suffered an injury as a result of the hate crime incident; many of which (45%) were minor in nature. About 7% of victims suffered major injuries, of which two resulted in death. For the remaining 48% of victims, the level of injury was unknown.

Approximately 46% of gay and lesbian victims of hate crime were injured as a result of the incident, almost twice the proportion of 25% among hate crime victims in general.

Accused charged in about one-half of incidents

Due to the very nature of certain types of hate crime violations, it is difficult to identify a suspect. This is especially true in cases of graffiti, other acts of vandalism, or incidents involving anonymous hate messages.

The pilot survey found that accused were identified in slightly less than one-half (48%) of the 928 hate crime incidents. Of these incidents, the majority, 86%, involved a single accused.

During the two-year period, there were 537 accused, with detailed characteristics reported for 520 individuals. The average age for the accused was 29, and the majority of the accused were men (84%). Women made up only 1 in 10, while the sex of the accused was not recorded in 5% of incidents.

Overall, fewer than 1 in 10 accused had been involved in previous criminal activity.

The majority of those charged with a hate crime by the 12 participating police forces were involved in isolated incidents. However, 4% had been involved in previous hate crimes, and 3% were connected to a gang or an extremist group.

Offence types vary depending on hate crime motive

Just over one-half (52%) of the 928 hate crime incidents reported in this survey were offences against the person, while 31% were property offences. The remainder involved "other violations" (17%), the majority of which were hate propaganda.

Among individual offences, the most common types of hate crime violations included mischief or vandalism, which represented 29% of incidents, followed by physical assaults (25%), uttering threats (20%) and hate propaganda (13%).

Types of offences varied according to the nature of the motivation. Hate crimes based on race/ethnicity were most likely to involve physical assaults (29%), mischief or vandalism (26%), uttering threats (17%), and hate propaganda (17%).

In the case of anti-religious hate crimes, over one third involved acts of mischief or vandalism (36%), followed by hate propaganda and uttering threats where each accounted for 23% of incidents.

Individuals targeted because of their sexual orientation were more likely than other hate crime victims to suffer violent crimes. Among violations, victims of sexual orientation hate crimes experienced assaults in 41% of incidents, followed by slightly more than one-quarter mischief or vandalism (27%) and uttering threats (14%).

Hate crimes more likely to be reported to police

Nearly one-half (45%) of self-reported hate crime victimizations were brought to the attention of the police, according to the 1999 General Social Survey. Hate-motivated incidents were more likely than non-hate crimes to be reported; only 37% of self-reported victimizations in which the victim did not feel the incident was motivated by hate came to the attention of police.

The difference in reporting rates may partly be because of the fact that in almost one-half of all hate crime incidents the perpetrator was a stranger and victims are more likely to report to police if the offender is not known.

In addition, a greater proportion of hate crimes are violent in nature. The degree of severity of an offence influences whether the victim reports it to police.

September 11 increased hate crimes for a short period

The 12 police forces that participated in the pilot survey found a short-lived increase in the number of hate crimes reported following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States.

Overall, 15% of the hate crimes following the attacks during the pilot survey period were associated by police with events of September 11, 2001. Almost three-quarters of these incidents occurred within two months of the attacks.

Police reported 232 hate crimes recorded during these two months, more than three times the level of 67 during the same two-month period in 2000.

Two-thirds (68%) of the hate crime incidents police associated with the events were violent in nature, including assault, criminal harassment and uttering threats. Another 23% involved violations against property. Fully 92% of acts against property involved vandalism.

The remaining 9% of hate crime incidents associated with September 11 involved "other" criminal incidents, such as hate propaganda.

Religion and race/ethnicity were almost equally as likely to be the target of these offences. About 30% of incidents involved Muslims, 27% Jewish people, 15% Americans, and 13% Arabs/West Asians.

This issue of Juristat: Hate Crime in Canada, Vol. 24, no. 4 (85-002-XIE, $9/$75; 85-002-XPE, $11/$100) is now available.

For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Client Services (1-800-387-2231; 613-951-9023), Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics.