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TALLAHASSEE--The annual Hate Crimes in Florida report detailing incidents of hate-related offenses that occurred during 2004 has been released by the Florida Attorney General's office indicating that the number of hate crimes reported by local law enforcement agencies increased by 21.5% over the previous year, with the total of 334 reported hate crimes representing the third-highest annual total since reporting began in 1990.
Compared to the previous annual report, the figures for 2004 showed a moderate increase in the share of hate crimes attributed to race but a decrease in hate crimes motivated by the victim's sexual orientation. Crimes motivated by the victim's race or ethnicity/national origin combined to account for 72.2% of all reported hate crimes in 2004, up from a combined 67.2% one year earlier.
"Hate crimes are among the most senseless of acts, driven by fear and bigotry and devoid of any measure of rational thought. Public awareness remains crucial in our efforts to stop hate crimes in our state," said Attorney General Charlie Crist. "Despite the overall increase in reported incidents, the combined efforts of government, community organizations and law enforcement remain strong in combating the scourge of hate crimes."
The statistics used in preparing the Hate Crimes in Florida report record a separate offense for each victim reported to the state. In contrast, some law enforcement statistics are recorded per incident, resulting in different statistics for the same offenses.
Offenses motivated by the victim's sexual orientation accounted for 15.6 percent of all hate crimes in 2004, one year after that category showed its highest proportion ever recorded in Florida (20.0%). The motivation category showed a slight reduction from 55 to 52 reported offenses, concluding a four-year stretch in which Florida law enforcement agencies reported more hate crimes motivated by sexual orientation than the combined total on that category for the first eight years of hate crimes reporting.
The report also noted a slight shift toward hate crimes targeting individuals rather than property. Crimes against persons accounted for 76% of reported hate crimes in 2004, up from 68% the previous year, while hate crimes against property dropped from 32% to 24% of the total.
Data in the Hate Crimes Report was submitted by local law enforcement agencies to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which then provided it to the Attorney General's Office for reporting. Since 1994, the Attorney General's Office has conducted hate crimes training seminars for state and local law enforcement agencies throughout Florida. Through the end of the period covered by the latest annual report, more than 3,500 law enforcement personnel from more than 272 jurisdictions had received this training.
The Hate Crimes in Florida Report is prepared each year pursuant to the Hate Crimes Reporting Act, section 877.19, Florida Statutes. The report summarizes data collected by local law enforcement agencies and submitted to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Any attempt to rank or categorize an agency, county or region based solely on this report may be misleading by making it appear that certain areas have a high number of hate crimes when in fact their law enforcement agencies have different polices of identifying and reporting such crimes. The report does not include unreported crimes or those that may have been hate-related but were not classified as such by the local law enforcement agency.
A copy of the 2004 Hate Crimes in Florida report can be viewed at: http://myfloridalegal.com/webfiles.nsf/WF/MRAY-6KHHZP/$file/2004HateCrimesReport.pdf 12-28-05
© 2005 North
Country Gazette
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