FBI: Most Hate Crimes Motivated by Race

WASHINGTON, Feb. 13 (AP) - Racial prejudice motivated more than half the 7,876 hate crimes committed in 1999 that were reported to the FBI, the bureau said Tuesday.

As in 1998, 1997 and 1996, racial prejudice was the most common motivation for hate crimes, accounting for 4,295 incidents in 1999.

There also were 1,411 incidents attributed to prejudice against the target's religion, 1,317 incidents over sexual orientation, 829 over ethnic or national origin, 19 over disabilities and five over multiple prejudices, the FBI said.

The data came from 12,122 law enforcement agencies in 48 states and the District of Columbia, representing 85 percent of the nation's population.

In 1998, there were 7,755 hate crime incidents, of which 4,321 were racially motivated. But the 1998 data came from 10,730 law enforcement agencies in 46 states and the District of Columbia, representing 80 percent of the nation's population.

So the 1999 total was 121 higher than the 1998 figure but the data came from 1,392 more police agencies than in 1998.

Because the number of agencies reporting varies under the voluntary system established by the Hate Crimes Statistics Act of 1990, officials caution against drawing conclusions about trends in hate crime volumes between years. They say the figures provide a rough picture of the general nature of hate crimes.

In 1999, crimes against people accounted for 66.5 percent of the offenses, with intimidation the most frequent of all hate crimes at 35.1 percent of the total. Vandalism and destruction of property accounted for 28.5 percent of all reported offenses, simple assault for 19 percent and aggravated assault for 12 percent.

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