The FBI released its 2017 Hate Crimes Statistics on Tuesday that document 8,437 criminal offenses motivated by bias against race, ethnicity, gender and gender identity, religion, disability or sexual orientation that occurred in 2017. This marks a substantial increase over the previous year’s 7,321 offenses.

The bureau’s report indicates that a total of 7,106 single-bias incidents occurred and demonstrates that in 58.1 percent of those cases perpetrators targeted victims because of their race, ethnicity or ancestry. Bias against religion was the second most prevalent motivation and accounted for 22 percent of single-bias incidents. And bias against sexual orientation, which accounted for 15.8 percent of the incidents, was the third most common motivation. According to the report, 60.3 percent of the hate crime offenses reported were committed against persons, 36.9 percent against property and 2.8 percent against society.

While the increase in hate crimes is demonstrable, it is also important to keep in mind that the FBI has attempted to improve reporting of hate crimes and that some 1,000 new agencies contributed information for the 2017 report. 

In a press release acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker said:

This report is a call to action—and we will heed that call. The Department of Justice’s top priority is to reduce violent crime in America, and hate crimes are violent crimes. They are also despicable violations of our core values as Americans. I am particularly troubled by the increase in anti-Semitic hate crimes—which were already the most common religious hate crimes in the United States—that is well documented in this report. The American people can be assured that this Department has already taken significant and aggressive actions against these crimes and that we will vigorously and effectively defend their rights.