A complex discussion about the real FBI hate crime statistics

2015 - Complex News presents a very simple narrative of a hate crime being when a White attacks a non-White. The real FBI hate crime statistics are a bit more complex.Show more

MARTIN: The FBI reports that about 20 percent of hate crimes are committed by African-Americans. And does that mean anything, or does that information have some bearing on the this in some way?

Mr. POTOK: Well, the FBI statistics are notoriously shaky, through no fault of their own. It's a voluntary reporting system. The numbers are known to be extremely weak. That said, I think they are indicative of something. What the numbers show is, as you suggested, is almost 21 percent of hate crimes, according to FBI numbers, are committed by black Americans, who comprise about 13 percent of the population. About 58 percent are committed by whites, who makeup about 80 percent of the population.

So the FBI statistics do suggest that blacks commit hate crimes at a somewhat higher level than whites. And that is very possibly true. We really can't know that because the FBI stats are so incomplete.