Hawaii reported total of 6 hate crimes in 2006
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By Jim Dooley
Advertiser Staff Writer
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There were six hate crimes reported in Hawai'i last year — a small number but still a significant increase over previous years, according to statistics compiled by the Hawai'i attorney general's office.
Yesterday, the FBI released its annual report on hate crimes, showing an 8 percent national spike in offenses in 2006. Hawai'i does not contribute data to the FBI study, preferring to compile what the state believes are more comprehensive figures, said Paul Perrone, chief of research in the attorney general's office.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation reported that the number of hate crimes rose from 7,163 in 2005 to 7,722 in 2006.
In 52 percent of the incidents, victims were targeted because of their race. Only three murders in 2006 were classified as hate crimes.
The 1990 Hate Crimes Statistics Act requires federal officials to collect and compile the data but doesn't require states to submit it.
A total of 17,456 agencies report crime statistics to the FBI. Of those, 12,620 filed reports of hate crimes in 2006.
The number of agencies reporting hate crimes has slowly increased over the years, but federal officials say it's still difficult for some local agencies to determine which offenses qualify.
"The reporting of hate crimes is still relatively new," said Paul Breson, an FBI spokesman. "It wasn't something that was routinely kept."
The data release follows a rash of noose hangings and comes as Congress considers legislation to expand the definition of hate crimes to include sexual orientation. Some 21 states and the District of Columbia have hate crime laws that include sexual orientation.
National concern about hate crimes has been heightened recently by a racially charged altercation between white and black students in Louisiana. In Hawai'i, a "road rage" incident this year with racial overtones provoked a sometimes-heated community discussion about whether the incident qualified as a hate crime.
Ultimately, prosecutors here determined that the case was not motivated by race and was not a hate crime. A father and son who assaulted a military couple in the Waikele shopping center parking lot were convicted of assault charges in the case.
Of the six 2006 cases that the Hawai'i attorney general's office counted as hate crimes, only one involved a felony offense, and prosecutors did not seek increased penalties against the defendant available under the state's felony hate crime law, the report noted.
BASED ON TRIALS
Unlike the national FBI numbers, Hawai'i's hate crime numbers are based not on police reports but on cases that are actually prosecuted as hate crimes.
That approach, Perrone said, helps to "eliminate false positives — cases which at first appear to be bias-related but later turn out not to be."
According to the 2006 report, submitted to the Legislature earlier this year, including prosecution information "avoids the pitfall that has occurred in many jurisdictions" that rely just on police reports.
Of the six cases reported here last year, all were on O'ahu — compared with a statewide total of five from 2002 through 2005. All cases except one on the Big Island in 2005 have been reported on O'ahu.
Only two of the six reported last year "seem to clearly fit the profile of a 'classic' hate crime," the state report said:
Charges against the other attacker were pending. The "victim who was the primary target of the assault is neither Arab nor Muslim," the report said.
The other cases reported last year involved "precipitating altercations," possible mental impairment or other "somewhat nebulous biases and intent," the state report said.
"These four (additional) cases highlight the inherent subjectivity involved in making hate crime determinations and could have just as legitimately been determined not to be hate crimes," the report said.
Rebecca Stotzer, an assistant professor at the University of Hawai'i School of Social Work, said statistics can be misleading in both directions.
"Hawai'i is such a diverse community, and people have mutual respect for each other," she said.
But by living in a diverse community, "you find out the things that are hurtful to people and sometimes you say those things when you're fighting about something else," she said.
Listing all such incidents "would make it look like there were a lot of things wrong here, but in context, that's not accurate," Stotzer said.
On the other hand, she said, "hateful behavior shouldn't be condoned," and fuller reporting of such behavior can be beneficial to a society.
ISLE NUMBER 'ABSURD'
One Mainland critic yesterday called the low number of hate crimes reported by Hawai'i "absurd."
"Some states dutifully collect data and others don't," said Brian Levin, director of the Center for Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino.
Levin cited the FBI statistics that Alabama and Hawai'i have reported hardly any hate crimes and Mississippi reported none in 2006. "The idea that Hawai'i or Alabama have had no or next to no hate crimes is absurd."
Attorney General Mark Bennett said he did not know if Levin was aware that Hawai'i collects and reports its hate crimes differently than many other jurisdictions.
"Our belief is that prosecutorial information provides a far more accurate reflection of what has occurred," Bennett said.
Gannett News Service contributed to this report.Reach Jim Dooley at jdooley@honoluluadvertiser.com.
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