Hate crimes are on the rise all across America — up 22 percent with 8,500 cases being reported to police, in fact. But certain states have seen incredibly high rises. Take Georgia, for example. The state has seen the second-highest rate in the country, according to a new study.
African-Americans were the most targeted racial group.
Conducted by Safehome.org, the study found that hate crimes increased by 219 percent between 2013 and 2017. According to the study, race/ethnicity, religion, and sexual orientation are the three largest motivators for offenders to commit a hate crime.
“Of the crimes, race, ethnicity, and ancestry were the leading single-bias offense at 59 percent…Of those offenses, Jews were the most targeted religious group of all religious incidents, followed by Muslims,” NBC 12 reported.
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Caucasians made up 51 percent of the offenders.
The state with the highest hate crime in Wyoming, with an increase of 2,200 percent. Virginia ranked tenth, with a whopping 70 percent rise. Alabama ranked fifteenth with hate crimes increasing by 50 percent. Vermont, Delaware, and the District of Columbia were also among the places with the biggest rise in hate crimes.
There were seven states that did see a decrease in hate crime rates between 2013 and 2017.
