While Crime Down, Anti-Semitism on Rise in New York City

While Crime is Down, Anti-Semitism on Rise in New York City

While Crime Down, Anti-Semitism on Rise in New York City

The rise correlates with Donald Trump becoming the President

Incidences of hate crimes in the United States have risen during the last few months. The statistics from 2016 show 671 hate crimes being reported. In 2017, a total of 333 incidents have been recorded by law enforcement. According to experts, ample evidence exists that hate crimes have increased after the Trump administration took over the United States.

While Crime Down, Anti-Semitism on Rise in New York City[/tweetthis]

Robert Boyce, the Chief of Detectives of the NYPD, said 2017 witnessed a persistent level of anti-Semitic hate crimes. Majority of crimes involved swastikas. The number of reported anti-Semitic crimes is 148. This is a rise from 138 and 126 in 2016 and 2015 respectively. This rise has led to fear among New York’s Jewish population. Other than Jews, hate crimes have also been reported against African-Americans. There have been 33 incidents against people of African extraction.

Frank Pezzella of John Jay College of Criminal Justice, says that the hate crimes rise mirrors the US national trend. The professor said that there is an increase in the number of hate crimes, but the number of varieties is more now.

However, Lt. John Grimpel, the spokesman of the NYPD, said that the statistic of only 300 plus hate crimes is actually extremely low for a city whose population is presently 8.5 million. These figures put New York in the third position across the United States. Phoenix occupies the unenviable top position and Los Angeles the second ranking. As per data collected by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), there were 4.2 hate crimes for every 100,000 residents in NY in 2016. This is much less than 11 and 5.7 recorded in Phoenix and Los Angeles respectively during the same period.

Majority of the crimes captured in the statistic are harassment and vandalism. The NYPD has categorized 143 crimes as criminal mischief. This includes damages made to the property. Threatening letters, phone calls or messages, counted as cases of aggravated harassment, made up 80 of the total hate crimes in 2017. The number of hate-fueled assaults adds up to 68. Brooklyn was the venue for a majority of hate crimes. Approximately 115 got reported to law enforcement. The area has the biggest Jewish population in New York. In the second place is Manhattan, with a total of 113 reports. Queens saw 54 hate crimes and Bronx 33. Staten Island saw 18 hate crimes as per the NYPD.

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