The term ‘hate crime’ is a misnomer. There’s hate in all crimes. The correct way to identify hate crimes is ‘identity-motivated criminality.’ The criminal is substantially driven by the identity of the victim. If that’s a peripheral motivation, you don’t have a hate crime. A racial epithet uttered during a mugging doesn’t count. In a mugging, the primary motivation is getting your money.
Last year, we had 324 hate-crime cases in the city of New York. The number one type here is anti-Semitic—there were 112 cases. Mostly swastikas painted on synagogues. Number two is antigay crime. We had 62. Those are normally assaults or a verbal assault with a threat. Antiblack, we had about 23. And then you have antiwhite. We had 19 last year.
Many people misinterpret a crime that happens to them as a hate crime, but the statute won’t accept it. Nonthreatening hate speech is protected by the First Amendment. A person can say very offensive things, and the Supreme Court will rule against it being a hate crime.
CAPT. MICHAEL OSGOOD,
HATE CRIMES DIVISION, NYPD
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