EXTREMISMAnti-Jewish Hate Crimes Comprised Nearly 70% of All Religion-Based Hate Crimes in 2024: FBI

Hate crimes data released today by the Federal Bureau of Investigation reveals that while reported hate crime incidents across the country decreased from 11,862 in 2023 to 11,679 in 2024, reported single-bias anti-Jewish hate crime incidents rose to 1,938 incidents, an increase of 5.8 percent from 2023, and the highest number ever recorded by the FBI since it began collecting data in 1991. These included 178 anti-Jewish assaults, up from 174 in 2023.

Although Jews only make up around 2 percent of the U.S. population, reported single-bias anti-Jewish hate crimes comprised 16 percent of all reported hate crimes and nearly 70 percent of all reported religion-based hate crimes in 2024, which is a slight increase from prior years.

“As the Jewish community is still reeling from two deadly antisemitic attacks in the past few months, the record-high number of anti-Jewish hate crime incidents tracked by the FBI in 2024 is consistent with ADL’s reporting and, more importantly, with the Jewish community’s current lived experience,” said Jonathan Greenblatt, ADL CEO. “Since the Hamas-led Oct. 7 massacre in Israel, Jewish Americans have not had a moment of respite and have experienced antisemitism at K-12 school, on college campuses, in the public square, at work and Jewish institutions. Our government and leaders must take these numbers seriously and enact adequate measures to protect all Americans from the scourge of hate crimes.”

According to the FBI data, half of hate crime incidents across the country (50 percent) in 2024 were motivated by bias based on race, ethnicity or national origin, with reported anti-Black hate crimes comprising the single largest portion of those incidents (51 percent). Reported single-bias anti-Muslim hate crime incidents slightly decreased from 236 in 2023 to 228. Reported anti-LGBTQ+ hate crime incidents decreased from 2,557 in 2023 to 2,390. And reported single-bias religion-based hate crimes, which represented approximately 24 percent of all reported hate crimes, rose from 2,699 in 2023 to 2,783.

ADL, which keeps its own count of both criminal and non-criminal acts of hate against Jews, documented a total of 9,354 antisemitic incidents in 2024, a 5-percent increase from the prior year, and the highest number on record since ADL began tracking such data in 1979. Assaults – considered the most serious incident type because they involve person-on-person physical violence – increased by 21 percent in 2024.

According to the FBI data, a total of 16,419 law enforcement agencies, which represent 84.9 percent of the agencies enrolled in the hate crime data collection program, participated in hate crimes reporting for 2024. Despite an increase in the number of law enforcement agencies reporting data in 2024, far too many agencies do not participate in reporting or are likely not participating in a fully accurate way. ADL has long called for improved and expanded hate crime reporting to ensure the most accurate, comprehensive data is available each year.

“Hate crimes are deeply personal, harmful, and traumatizing—not only for the individual targeted, but for the entire community they’re part of,” said Oren Segal, ADL’s SVP of Counter-Extremism and Intelligence. “Addressing them requires a whole-of-government, whole-of-society response that centers victims and affected communities. While it’s encouraging that more law enforcement agencies are reporting hate crime data, we still have a long way to go to understand the full scope of the problem. Without a full picture, we can’t effectively confront this hate.”

ADL calls on Congress to pass the bipartisan H.R. 2588 Improved Reporting to Prevent Hate Act, which would require law enforcement agencies to credibly report hate crimes to the FBI to be eligible for certain federal funding. 

The article is published courtesy of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).

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