Reported Hate Crimes in Wisconsin Rise by 54% in 2021

Friday, December 23rd, 2022 -- 12:01 PM

(By Rich Kremer, Wisconsin Public Radio) The number of hate crimes reported in Wisconsin grew by 54 percent in 2021, according to new data from the FBI.

According to Rich Kremer with the Wisconsin Public Radio, the increase comes despite a significant drop in law enforcement agencies reporting hate crime data. There were 111 hate crimes in Wisconsin last year, according to the FBI's Crime Data Explorer.

The offenses included minor and aggravated assaults, vandalism and intimidation. Around 30 percent of the crimes were listed by the FBI as anti-Black or African American. Around 15 percent of the reported hate crimes were identified as anti-white.

Around 12 percent of the crimes were listed as anti-LGBTQ. Four of the incidents targeted Jewish people, another three targeted Asians. When broken down by race, 69 offenders were white, 19 were Black or African American, 3 were American Indian or Alaska Native and four were listed as unknown. 

The 2021 data represents a 54 percent increase over the 72 hate crimes reported in 2020 and a 122 percent increase from the 50 reported in 2019. Last year's data comes with a caveat: Far fewer law enforcement agencies reported hate crime data to the FBI than in prior years.

Of 448 law enforcement agencies in Wisconsin, 325 reported hate crime statistics in 2021. In 2021 nearly 100 percent of agencies reported data. An FBI press release states the number of law enforcement agencies reporting nationwide decreased significantly due to departments transitioning to a new reporting system. 

Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.