By Chris Hoenig
Ethnicity has replaced race as the No. 1 bias behind hate crimes, according to an analysis of data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS).
In 51 percent of the estimated 293,800 nonfatal violent and property hate crimes in 2012, the victims reported ethnicity—defined as the victim’s ancestral, cultural, social or national affiliation—as the bias that motivated the crime. Race was the second-most-common bias, motivating 46 percent of hate crimes. Approximately 58 percent of hate-crime victims reported more than one bias behind the crimes they suffered.
