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US hate crimes down
Washington, Nov 13: Hate crimes were down sharply in 2002 following a spike the year before that was blamed in part on anti-Muslim and Middle Eastern sentiment after the September 11 attacks.
Washington, Nov 13: Hate crimes were down sharply in
2002 following a spike the year before that was blamed in part
on anti-Muslim and Middle Eastern sentiment after the September 11
attacks.
The 7,462 hate crime incidents reported to the FBI in
2002 represented a drop of nearly 25 per cent from the 9,730
reported in 2001, the agency said yesterday. The number also
was below the 8,063 incidents recorded in 2000.
There were 155 hate crime incidents listed as anti-Islamic last year, down sharply from the 481 reported in 2001, when the nation suffered its worst-ever terrorist attack at the hands of Muslim extremists.
In addition, there were 622 hate crime incidents listed in 2002 against ethnic groups that include people of Middle Eastern descent, down from 1,500 in 2001. There were 931 anti-Jewish incidents in 2002, slightly below the number in 2001.
Arab-American and Muslim advocates agreed that hate crimes dropped from 2001 to 2002. But they said these people still suffer disproportionate discrimination in the wake of the September 11 attacks and the Iraq war.
"There's an uneasy relationship between the Muslim community and law enforcement," said Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the council on American-Islamic relations.
Many Arab-Americans and Muslims fail to report crimes for fear of government harassment, said Dalia Hashad, Attorney Advocate at the American Civil Liberties Union.
Bureau Report
There were 155 hate crime incidents listed as anti-Islamic last year, down sharply from the 481 reported in 2001, when the nation suffered its worst-ever terrorist attack at the hands of Muslim extremists.
In addition, there were 622 hate crime incidents listed in 2002 against ethnic groups that include people of Middle Eastern descent, down from 1,500 in 2001. There were 931 anti-Jewish incidents in 2002, slightly below the number in 2001.
Arab-American and Muslim advocates agreed that hate crimes dropped from 2001 to 2002. But they said these people still suffer disproportionate discrimination in the wake of the September 11 attacks and the Iraq war.
"There's an uneasy relationship between the Muslim community and law enforcement," said Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the council on American-Islamic relations.
Many Arab-Americans and Muslims fail to report crimes for fear of government harassment, said Dalia Hashad, Attorney Advocate at the American Civil Liberties Union.
Bureau Report