US hate crimes up third year in a row with antisemitism particularly on the rise, FBI report reveals

More than half of reported hate crimes based on religion targeted Jewish people last year

Mourners outside the Tree of Life synagogue (EPA)

Hate crimes in the United States jumped 17 per cent in 2017, with a 37 per cent spike in antisemitic attacks, according to FBI data released on Tuesday.

The report - which shows that hate crimes have increased for the third year in a row - also includes a 23 per cent increase in religion-based hate crimes.

According to the annual report there were a total of 7,175 hate crime incidents reported last year by law enforcement agencies, up from 6,121 incidents in 2016.

Antisemitic incidents to 938 from 684 a year earlier. The release of the data comes just weeks after a gunman burst into a Pittsburgh synagogue and shot dead 11 worshippers while allegedly shouting “All Jews must die.”

The Pittsburgh synagogue massacre came amid criticism President Donald Trump's inflammatory political rhetoric and his self-identification as a “nationalist” were fuelling devision

Critics say Mr Trump's rhetoric has contributed a surge in right-wing extremism, something the White House has repeatedly denied.

Of the reported crimes in the FBI statistics, 27.6 per cent were destruction/damage/vandalism. 27.1 per cent were intimidation, 20.7 per cent were simple assault, and 11.7 per cent were aggravated assault.

The data collection is not perfect. Propublica calls hate crime data collection unreliable and incomplete, meaning that the number of hate crimes actually committed in the United States could be considerably more than what gets reported and logged correctly.

On the other hand, an increase in reports may mean, not that more of these crimes are happening, but that more people are coming forward to report them. It could also mean that police agencies are doing more to ensure that hate crimes are categorised as such. The new FBI report did involve more participation from law enforcement agencies than it did in the previous year. For 2017, 16,149 agencies participated. In 2016, only 15,254 sent in data regarding hate crimes.

Still, the FBI’s report is not alone in its assessment of an increase in hate crimes. In May, researchers at California State University, San Bernadino released a report measuring hate crimes in America’s 10 largest cities. They found that, on average, hate crimes are worse today than they have been in more than a decade. 2001 was one of the worst years on record, with hate crimes spiking following the September 11th attacks.