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Are We Experiencing a Nationwide 'Anti-Semitism Crisis'? Hate Crime Data Suggest That Claim Is Overblown
Townhall.com ^ | January 8, 2020 | Jacob Sullum

Posted on 01/08/2020 5:11:22 AM PST by Kaslin

"We're facing an anti-Semitism crisis, and not just in this city," New York Mayor Bill de Blasio declared on Sunday. "It's happening across our country and planet."

De Blasio's warning, which came on the same day that thousands of people responded to recent anti-Jewish crimes in the New York area by joining a solidarity march in Manhattan, was more sweeping than the evidence justifies. While New York City has seen a substantial increase in reports of anti-Semitic crimes during the last two years, the story in the rest of the country is more complicated and less alarming.

According to the New York Police Department, reports of hate crimes against Jews in that city rose 26% last year, from 186 in 2018 to 234 in 2019, after rising nearly as much (23%) in the previous year. According to Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, the 2019 total was the highest seen in New York City since the FBI began reporting hate crime data in 1992.

Nationwide, however, the FBI's tally indicates that the number of anti-Jewish criminal incidents (each of which may include more than one offense) fell from 938 in 2017 to 835 in 2018 -- an 11% drop. The total in 2018, the most recent year for which national data are available, was lower than the totals in 21 out of the previous 26 years.

The number of anti-Jewish incidents counted by the FBI has fallen by 18% since 1992. That drop is especially striking because both the number of law enforcement agencies participating in the FBI's program and the population served by them more than doubled between 1992 and 2018.

Furthermore, the Bureau of Justice Statistics, based on data from its National Crime Victimization Survey, says the share of hate crimes reported to police -- the ones that potentially would be counted by the FBI -- was 55% in 2017, up from 40% in 2009. The reporting rates in the 1990s, when the FBI's annual count of anti-Jewish incidents exceeded 1,000 in every year but one, may have been even lower.

The NCVS, which covers unreported offenses as well as offenses that police may not have classified as bias-motivated even though the victims perceived them that way, generates much higher estimates of hate crimes than the FBI's tallies. That survey nevertheless shows a 30% decline in all hate crimes from 2004 to 2017.

In addition to reporting rates, the information collected by the FBI is affected by local policies and practices. Los Angeles, for instance, saw a startling 100% increase in anti-Jewish crimes between 2018 and 2019, 83% of which was caused by a change in the way police classified hate symbols in public places.

It is also important to keep in mind the typical nature of the hate crimes reported to the FBI. While deadly or life-threatening crimes such as last month's machete attack on Hasidim in Monsey, New York, understandably get the most attention, the vast majority of hate crime incidents in 2018 involved vandalism (26%), intimidation (29%), or simple assault (23%), while 12% involved aggravated assault or homicide.

Similarly, the Anti-Defamation League's annual audit of "anti-Semitic incidents," which is based mainly on direct reports to the organization and includes noncriminal conduct, consists almost entirely of "harassment," which accounted for 57% of the incidents in 2018, and vandalism, which accounted for 41%. The ADL says the 2018 total (1,879) was the third-highest since 1979, although it was down 5% from 2017.

Like the FBI's numbers, the ADL tally is influenced by the likelihood that people will report anti-Jewish incidents, which may, in turn, be influenced by publicity regarding anti-Semitism, including the audit itself. In trying to figure out whether we are actually experiencing a nationwide "anti-Semitism crisis," we should not conflate that concern with the underlying reality.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: akadeblasio; antisemitism; billdeblasio; jacobsullum; newyork; newyorkcity

1 posted on 01/08/2020 5:11:22 AM PST by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

The more muzzies come into the country, and breed, the worse this problem will get.


2 posted on 01/08/2020 5:17:36 AM PST by I want the USA back (If free speech is taken away, dumb and silent we are led, like sheep to the slaughter: G Washington)
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Can’t rely on so-called “hate crime data”; and not all antisemitic attacks are classified as “hate crimes” anyhow.


3 posted on 01/08/2020 5:18:30 AM PST by Olog-hai ("No Republican, no matter how liberal, is going to woo a Democratic vote." -- Ronald Reagan, 1960)
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To: I want the USA back

There is a problem in New York, where under the new laws, you can physically assault someone and face virtually no penalty; and moreover, if someone makes a complaint about you, you are entitled to know that person’s identity and home address (a real spur to letting the gangs know where you live... )


4 posted on 01/08/2020 5:19:05 AM PST by CondorFlight
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To: Kaslin

The issue I see with this premise is that when it comes to hate crimes, they are quick to label anything against POCs as hate crimes but are hesitant in any other case.

Did they finally admit the Black Isrealite attack was a hate crime yet? I know initially they were just calling it a robbery or some other rubbish.


5 posted on 01/08/2020 5:20:52 AM PST by Malsua
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To: Malsua

Sheesh, learn to spell dummy. Israelite.


6 posted on 01/08/2020 5:21:57 AM PST by Malsua
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To: Kaslin
Of course it's overblown. With the world ending in eleven years and some number of months who's listening to dolts who take any disagreement with them as a sure sign you hate all Jews?

The only thing happening is people are fed up with being called antisemitic just because they call someone an idiot for championing queers marrying other queers, recognizing fifty plus "sexes", preferred pronouns, wanting to impeach Trump, and other chit spewed by idiots.

Intimidation ain't what it used to be, that's their problem and that's why they're wringing their hands over a crisis when their primary means of intimidation is no longer working as well as it once did.

7 posted on 01/08/2020 5:27:48 AM PST by Rashputin (Jesus Christ doesn't evacuate His troops, He leads them to victory !!)
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To: I want the USA back

Hasn’t it been pretty well established that blacks can’t be racist? Am I missing something here?


8 posted on 01/08/2020 5:30:25 AM PST by wastoute (Government cannot redistribute wealth. Government can only redistribute poverty.)
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To: Olog-hai

Exactly. The authorities bend over backwards trying to avoid classifying crimes against Jews or even persons of European descent (including Hispanics) as “hate crimes” and just call them assaults, robbery attempts, etc.

They minimize the crime and then they release the thug on his own recognizance.


9 posted on 01/08/2020 5:47:09 AM PST by livius
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To: Kaslin

The wiser among Jewish people have taken to arming themselves.

The foolish assume that gun control will stop lunatics and fanatics from getting guns; or almost as bad, that the police will somehow protect them from the lunatics and fanatics.

Instead, synagogues should just assume that their services require a quorum of armed individuals. While walls and some security guards posted outside don’t hurt, it is far better that they have protection inside as well.

This also applies when they are in public, and integrates the idea of protection against armed criminals and the homeless but insane. Such villains especially pursue the aged and young children, and there should be no hesitation in stopping them.

Most of all, these are not ideas unique to Jews, and need to be practiced by all.


10 posted on 01/08/2020 7:07:20 AM PST by yefragetuwrabrumuy (Liberalism is the belief everyone else should be in treatment for your disorder.)
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Arthur Wildfire! March; Berosus; Bockscar; cardinal4; ColdOne; ...

11 posted on 01/08/2020 8:22:44 AM PST by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: Kaslin

we are experiencing a nationwide anti american crisis...
don’t fall for the looney leftists divide and conquer strategies...


12 posted on 01/08/2020 8:38:49 AM PST by heavy metal (your reward will be in heaven not on your paycheck...)
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To: Kaslin
I disagree. FBI 2018 statistics of hate crimes based on religion showed that, while Jews are 1 to 2 % of the population, Jews were the targets of nearly two-thirds of the religious hate crimes.

"Of the 1,617 victims of anti-religious hate crimes:
56.9 percent were victims of crimes motivated by offenders’ anti-Jewish bias."
In fact, that has been the case for decades. It's shameful.
13 posted on 01/08/2020 2:49:55 PM PST by Albion Wilde (It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it. --Douglas MacArthur)
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