According to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation's crime statistics, hate crimes based on sexual orientation went down in Tennessee in 2009 vs the previous year. There were 52 sexual bias crimes in 2009 vs 60 in 2008.
Nevertheless, there were incidents in Nashville. The Tennessean describes two:
"In March, a man walking downtown on Second Avenue was confronted by a man who asked if he was gay. When he responded that he was gay, the other man punched him in the mouth. The victim required stitches."
and...
"In December, a man walking near Second Avenue North and Commerce Street with his friends was called an anti-gay slur, punched and tossed to the ground. He was treated for a dislocated elbow."
Overall, the report is good news. The report is a reminder that areas that are becoming more tolerant such as Nashville still have work to do in reducing the number of bias related incidents.
The report does not cover crimes based on gender identity unless it is now putting such crimes in with the category gender. The federal hate crimes law was signed in 2009 which covers both sexual orientation and gender identity, so hopefully the 2010 report that comes out next year will have a full breakdown of statistics. The lack of specific reporting is another reason to pass the Richardson/Marrero bill in the Legislature that would add gender identity and expression to the state hate crimes statute.
Showing posts with label statistics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label statistics. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Tennessee Hate Crimes Report
A hat tip to Jerry Jones for letting me know that the TBI's Hate Crimes in Tennessee 2007 report has come out.
The report tracks bias-motivated crimes on a variety of levels, one of which is sexual bias. It does not explicitly cover gender identity. Here are some of the findings.
*In 2007, we saw a slight decrease in hate crimes based on sexual orientation. The number went from 60 in 2006 to 56 in 2007. That number is not much comfort considering the 2006 number (60) is almost triple the 2005 number (21).
*Even the number is down overall, the number of hate crimes against lesbians went up from 11 in 2006 to 13 in 2007.
*The number of hate crimes against bisexuals also increased from 2 in 2006 to 4 in 2007.
*An extraordinarily high number of victims of sexual bias crimes are African American. 23 out of the 56 victims in 2007 were Black.
*Hate crime victims in Tennessee are young. 32 of the 56 victims were 34 or younger. 23 of them were 24 or younger. 9 of them were under the age of 18.
*25 of the cases were reported in Memphis.
More analysis of the numbers to come...
The report tracks bias-motivated crimes on a variety of levels, one of which is sexual bias. It does not explicitly cover gender identity. Here are some of the findings.
*In 2007, we saw a slight decrease in hate crimes based on sexual orientation. The number went from 60 in 2006 to 56 in 2007. That number is not much comfort considering the 2006 number (60) is almost triple the 2005 number (21).
*Even the number is down overall, the number of hate crimes against lesbians went up from 11 in 2006 to 13 in 2007.
*The number of hate crimes against bisexuals also increased from 2 in 2006 to 4 in 2007.
*An extraordinarily high number of victims of sexual bias crimes are African American. 23 out of the 56 victims in 2007 were Black.
*Hate crime victims in Tennessee are young. 32 of the 56 victims were 34 or younger. 23 of them were 24 or younger. 9 of them were under the age of 18.
*25 of the cases were reported in Memphis.
More analysis of the numbers to come...
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