INDIANAPOLIS — Law enforcement agencies in Indiana reported 75 hate crime incidents in 2019, a decrease from the previous year.
The latest nationwide hate crime data was released by the FBI this week. It shows 214 agencies participating, with just 23 of them submitting incident reports. Those agencies cover 3.6 million Hoosiers, a little more than half the population of the state.
The 75 reported hate crimes in 2019 is a decrease from the 107 reported in 2018. The 107 in 2018 was the highest number since 1999.
Indiana lawmakers passed a hate crimes bill into law in 2019, but the Anti-Defamation League, one of the country’s leading anti-hate organizations, said Indiana’s law is too vague and “does not meet our standard for a real and effective hate crimes bill.”
The ADL still has Indiana among the four states without a hate crimes law, despite what some state lawmakers now say. The three other states are Wyoming, Arkansas and South Carolina.
In 2019, most reported hate crimes were motivated by race, ethnicity or ancestry with 47, followed by sexual orientation with 14. Religion was the third most common motivating factor, with 13 reported hate crimes.
The Hate Crime Statistics Act of 1990 requires the U.S. attorney general to collect data on hate crimes across the country. Participation in the program is mandatory for federal law enforcement agencies, but voluntary for local and state agencies.
Nationally, the number of reported hate crimes rose to its highest level in more than a decade.
