Foreword

The diversity of its people makes the United States a unique nation. However, when crimes are committed because of our differences, the effects can reverberate beyond a single person or group into an entire community, city, or society as a whole. These crimes, committed because of a bias against race, religion, disability, ethnicity, or sexual orientation, are not limited to cities of a particular size or a region of the country, but occur in communities of all sizes throughout the country. In an attempt to determine the scope and nature of hate crime, the Uniform Crime Reporting Program collects statistics on these incidents. However, data in publications such as Hate Crime Statistics are only a numerical representation that cannot mea-sure the fear, pain, and suffering of victims.

Law enforcement agencies play a major role in informing the entire criminal justice system, researchers, academics, and the general public of hate crimes. The hate crime data collection program began with a sample of 11 states in 1990 and has grown to cover more than 12,000 agencies in 48 states that submit data covering 85 percent of the country. Without input from these agencies, this publication would be ineffective. Contributing law enforcement agen-cies should be commended for their efforts, and all law enforcement agencies are encouraged to participate. The program is not aimed at placing the towns or cities of participating agencies under a microscope, but rather to collect information on hate crimes. For once a problem is identified and acknowledged, only then is it possible to study, understand, and combat it.

COPYRIGHT 1999 Federal Bureau of Investigation
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group