Shenandoah Valley Friends
Reprinted from: 
Friday, March 6, 1998
'Disturbing' Rise in Anti-Gay Hate Crimes Found
by Kai Wright
|
| Sharen Shaw Johnson said activists are troubled by incidents committed by police. (by Clint Steib) |
A group tracking anti-Gay hate crimes in 14 areas around the country released a report this week showing that the number of such hate crimes committed by a "law enforcement officer" increased 76 percent in 1997 compared to 1996.
The report also noted a 34 percent increase in the number of anti-Gay hate crimes occurring in schools and colleges and a 35 percent increase in the number of anti-Gay hate crimes against victims between the ages of 18 and 22.
The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP), a national network of local anti-Gay violence programs, released the report on March 3. The report, NCAVP's 13th annual hate crimes report, is based on statistics provided by 14 of NCAVP's 20-member programs.
The report documented 2,445 total reported incidents of anti-Gay hate crimes for 1997, up 2 percent from the 2,399 incidents reported in 1996.
Sharen Shaw Johnson, executive director of Washington, D.C.'s Gay Men and Lesbians Opposing Violence (GLOV), said the 2 percent rise in anti-Gay hate crimes is disturbing when compared to national trends in violent crime.
"While most major metropolitan areas - are busy bragging about double-digit decreases in the number of violent crimes [committed], we showed a 2 percent increase," said Johnson. "Naturally, we're concerned about that."
Human Rights Campaign Political Director Winnie Stachelberg said the report is further proof of the prevalence of anti-Gay hate crimes.
"This is a clear indication that anti-Gay violence is on the rise," said Stachelberg. Referring to the statistics involving law enforcement officers, she decried "the horror of having the people to whom you look for your protection and safety being the perpetrators of hate crimes."
|
| "The more young people who come out, the more they're going to experience anti-Gay violence," said National Youth Advocacy Coalition's Rea Carey. (by Clint Steib) |
This was the first report in which D.C.'s GLOV contributed statistics to the annual national report. NCAVP member organizations must collect data using the NCAVP's methodology for at least three years before their statistics can be included in the national report. GLOV data showed a 25 percent increase in the number of reported incidents in 1997 for D.C. � rising from 65 in 1996 to 97 in 1997. But Johnson notes that GLOV's transition from a group run by part-time volunteers to one with a full-time paid staff during the course of 1997 allowed the organization to document more hate crimes than in past years. Thus, she cautioned against drawing any conclusions from the increase.
U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) spokesperson Gregory King said U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno is also concerned about rising anti-Gay hate crime numbers.
"She has indicated that her concern is that with violent crime numbers going down around the country, it's a serious problem when hate crimes are [rising]," said King.
Johnson said the NCAVP groups were most troubled by the dramatic rise in reports of anti-Gay hate crimes involving police and law enforcement officials. Of the 4,080 total offenders in 1997, 468 were "law enforcement officers" � up 76 percent from the 266 reported in 1996. The only types of offenders reported more often than "law enforcement officers" were "strangers" (1,475). The types of offenders reported least often were "roommates" (18) and "ex-lovers" (25).
In addition to the sharp rise in offenders reported to be law enforcement officers, the report cited an 83 percent increase in the number of anti-Gay hate crimes occurring in "police precincts or jails" � rising from 42 in 1996 to 77 in 1997. At the same time, the report said only 24 percent of anti-Gay hate crimes reported to the NCAVP programs in 1997 were also reported to the police. That percentage is down from 32 percent in 1996.
King said he could not comment on the particular numbers reported by NCAVP, noting that it is always difficult to determine whether statistical changes from year to year reflect victims' greater willingness to report hate crimes or an actual jump in the number of incidents.
"In the past people may not have felt comfortable reporting a hate crime involving law enforcement officers," he said. "I think we have to always keep in mind that for years these crimes have been underreported and under-investigated. That has been a particular problem in-hate crimes based on sexual orientation."
But King pointed to two steps DOJ took following the Clinton administration's hate crimes summit, held in November in Washington, D.C., which were designed to educate local law enforcement agencies about hate crimes in general. After the conference, Reno directed all 94 U.S. Attorney's offices around the country to appoint a hate crimes "coordinator" as part of the President's National Hate Crimes Working Group. On Feb. 18, those "coordinators" met in Washington, D.C. for a day-long conference on hate crimes which included a presentation from the Human Rights Campaign's hate crimes specialist, Kris Pratt. The conference, said King, was designed to foster a "comprehensive national network" to fight hate crimes.
In addition, King said DOJ and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are testing training programs in local police precincts and prosecutors' offices around the country designed to increase local officials' understanding of and sensitivity to hate crimes. King said the training is "to help them understand what hate crimes are and why it is vitally important that they collect statistics and that these incidents are serious crimes. - One would hope that crimes [involving law enforcement officers] would decrease with a greater understanding of the seriousness of these crimes."
King also stressed, "The president and the attorney general both believe that our current federal hate crimes statutes are insufficient and need to be expanded to include sexual orientation."
A bill in both the House and Senate, the Hate Crimes Prevention Act, seeks to empower the federal government to apply stiffer penalties to offenders prosecuted for physically injuring someone based on sexual orientation, gender, or disability bias. The current federal hate crimes penalty law empowers the government to impose stiffer penalties for attacks only when they are motivated by the victim's race, color, religion, and national origin. No action has been taken on either version of the bill.
Hate crimes involving youth
The report noted that the greatest number of anti-Gay hate crime victims were between the ages of 30 and 44 (1,013, or 40.7 percent, of the total victims whose ages were recorded). But, it also noted that there was a 35 percent increase in the number of anti-Gay hate crime against victims between the ages of 18 and 22 (329 victims, or 13.2 percent).
Of the 2,486 victims whose ages were recorded in 1997, the third-largest group were between the ages of 22 and 29 (535 victims, or 21.5 percent of the total).
The jump in the number of victims between the ages of 18 and 22 was accompanied by a 34 percent increase in the number of anti-Gay hate crimes which occurred in "schools and colleges" � up to 196 incidents in 1997 from 146 in 1996.
"That was a concern to us because we still think there's significant under-reporting about violence against youth," said GLOV's Johnson. "Every time somebody does a study about [anti-Gay violence against youth] it pops up with double-digit responses when the question is 'Have you ever been a victim of anti-Gay violence in schools?'"
Rea Carey, director of the National Youth Advocacy Coalition, said the increase in reported incidents may be rooted in an increased visibility of Gay youth in schools. While there is no way to prove a connection between greater visibility and growing numbers of anti-Gay hate crimes in schools, she said, the fact that young people are expressing their sexuality at earlier ages will likely continue to prompt both more attacks and a greater willingness on the part of the victims to report those attacks.
"Over the last few years, we've seen an increase in the number of young people coming out, and coming out at younger ages," said Carey. "The more young people who come out, the more they're going to experience anti-Gay violence. - Many of our schools are not stepping up to the plate in dealing with these incidents, so young people are going to the anti-violence programs."
Johnson put a positive spin on the numbers.
"This increased reporting level for - youth violence actually may be good news in the sense that you must lance a boil before it can drain and heal," said Johnson. "Their reporting of the bias and bias violence many of them face literally every day will help us amass the ammunition we need to improve services."
DOJ spokesperson King said the department is also aware of the growing problem of anti-Gay hate crimes in schools. He said DOJ and the U.S. Department of Education are developing a "teachers' resource manual" which will be distributed to 50,000 school districts, education associations, and youth services organizations and will be put on the Internet. King declined to say when the manual will be completed and distributed; it was originally proposed by the Clinton administration at the November hate crimes summit.
In addition to Washington, the 14 areas represented in the NCAVP report are Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Central Coast (Calif.), Chicago (Ill.), Cleveland and Columbus (Ohio), Detroit (Mich.), El Paso (Texas.), Massachusetts, New York City, Phoenix, St. Louis, and Virginia.
Copyright � 1998 The Washington Blade Inc.� A member of the gay.net community.
�