The vast majority of hate crimes in the United States are prosecuted at the state and local levels, for which no figures are available. Prosecution and sentencing records were not reported to ODIHR.
The breakdown below refers only to offences with one recorded bias motivation. An additional 449 offences committed with two or more bias motivations were reported but are not presented here.
Notable cases in 2024:
In 2024, an Indiana woman was sentenced to 72 months in prison and three years of supervised release for committing a federal hate crime. She pleaded guilty to willfully causing bodily injury to a victim of Chinese descent, who was riding a bus on her way to school. The woman boarded the bus, sat behind the victim and, when the victim got up to leave, repeatedly stabbed the victim in the head with a folding knife. The perpetrator later admitted to police that she attacked the victim because she was Chinese and because she believed the victim to be the "enemy." She used racist slurs when referring to the victim.
In 2024, a Dallas man was sentenced to 37 years in prison, with credit for time served in state custody, following his guilty plea to hate crime charges. He pleaded guilty to five federal hate crime counts for killing one individual and attempting to kill four others during a mass shooting at a car repair shop, and to one count of using a firearm to commit the murder. He admitted that he killed one person and attempted to kill four other people because he believed that they were Muslim.
In 2024, a New Jersey man was sentenced to 40 years in prison to be followed by five years of supervised release for committing a series of bias-motivated violent assaults on members of the Orthodox Jewish community. He admitted to wilfully causing bodily injury to five victims and attempting to kill and cause injuries with dangerous weapons to four of the victims due to their Jewish identity.
This category includes hate crimes committed on the grounds of 'race', ethnicity and ancestry.
This category includes hate crimes with a bias against Catholics, Protestants, Jehovah's Witnesses, the Church of Jesus Christ, Eastern Orthodox, and other Christian denominations.
This category includes hate crimes targeting Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, and other faith groups, as well as Atheists/Agnostics.
This category includes anti-male and anti-female hate crimes.
Official figures include 2,278 hate crimes motivated by bias based on sexual orientation, and 527 hate crimes motivated by bias based on gender identity.
ODIHR recognizes the United States' efforts to report hate crime information and statistics to ODIHR. However, based on the available information, it observes that since 2018, the United States has not reported data on hate crimes recorded by the prosecution and judiciary to ODIHR. In addition, ODIHR observes that the United States would benefit from ensuring that hate crimes are addressed in a comprehensive manner, including by introducing a co-ordination mechanism.
ODIHR recalls that in Ministerial Council Decision 9/09, participating States committed to collecting reliable data and statistics in sufficient detail on hate crimes and to reporting such data periodically to ODIHR. In Ministerial Council Decisions 9/09 and 13/06, participating States also committed to ensuring a comprehensive approach to hate crimes. To that end, the relevant authorities are required to collaborate and co-ordinate closely with civil society. ODIHR stands ready to support the United States in meeting its relevant commitments through the provision of comprehensive resources and tailored assistance in the area of hate crime recording and data collection, as well as further resources and tailored assistance in the area of developing co-ordination mechanisms to address hate crime.
For 2024, ODIHR received reports of hate incidents in the Unites States from the following civil society organizations:
- Anti-Defamation League (ADL)
- European Center for the Development of Democracy (ECDD)
- Trans Europe and Central Asia (TGEU)
To learn more about these organizations, visit the Contributors page.
In addition, some incidents were recorded as part of ODIHR’s ongoing monitoring across the OSCE region.
All incidents submitted by the above organizations have been analysed by ODIHR. Those that were broadly considered to be hate crimes within the OSCE definition (criminal offence committed with a bias motive) are listed in the tables below according to the bias motivation category. Some incidents involved multiple biases and may be listed in multiple categories.
ODIHR’s insightsFor 2024, ODIHR received reports of 1,722 hate incidents in the United States, the vast majority of which were reported by the Anti-Defamation League. More than half of these incidents were motivated by anti-Semitism, while more than a third were racist and xenophobic. A large number of incidents involved overlapping motives of both racism and anti-Semitism. In addition, a low number of incidents involved multiple bias motivations, including: racist and xenophobic and gender-based and anti-LGBTI, anti-Semitic and anti-LGBTI, gender-based and anti-LGBTI, racist and xenophobic and anti-LGBTI, and racist and xenophobic and anti-Semitic and anti-LGBTI. Single incidents involving only an anti-Christian or only a gender-based motive were recorded, as were other multiple bias incidents. ODIHR observes that reported anti-Semitic incidents included physical assaults and harassment targeting visibly Jewish people, including students, families, and religious leaders, often near synagogues, schools, universities, or during public assemblies. ODIHR observes that Jewish institutions were repeatedly subjected to death and bomb threats, many of them accompanied by online messages invoking Nazism or references to the conflict in the Middle East. ODIHR further notes that synagogues, cemeteries, homes, businesses, and public spaces were widely vandalized with swastikas and anti-Semitic slogans, with numerous incidents involving the desecration of mezuzahs, menorahs, and other religious items. In addition to the incidents recorded in the tables below, ODIHR received reports of 568 incidents involving bomb threats targeting synagogues. ODIHR notes that the vast majority of racist and xenophobic incidents involved vandalism, with swastika and racist graffiti repeatedly defacing schools, universities, playgrounds, and other public spaces. Finally, ODIHR observes a series of homicides targeting trans women, predominantly Black and Latina. It should be noted that ODIHR did not receive any reporting on the United States related to anti-Roma, other religion or belief, or disability hate incidents. ODIHR received a very low number of anti-Muslim, anti-Christian and gender-based incidents. This indicates potential gaps in the information reported here. In addition, one reporting organization submitted 676 statistical incidents motivated by anti-Semitic bias, for which descriptions are not available in the tables below. |
Please note that incidents reported here are based on voluntary civil society submissions and as such might not reflect the actual number of incidents or the most targeted communities in the United States.
To address under-reporting, ODIHR encourages any civil society organizations or groups that monitor hate incidents to report these to ODIHR at hatecrimereport@odihr.pl.
To export an Excel sheet with summaries of all incidents from the United States click here and search by year and country.