The 2012 edition of the FBI’s national Hate Crime Statistics Act report is flawed due to underreporting and a lack of participation, the Anti-Defamation League said.

The ADL in a statement Monday “expressed profound disappointment” that more than 25 percent of the nation’s law enforcement agencies did not provide the FBI with their hate crime numbers, calling it “a significant setback in the progress our nation has made in hate crime data collection over the past decade.”

The 5,796 hate crimes documented in the report represented a 7 percent decrease from 2011 and the lowest number of reported hate crimes since the program started in 1991. However, ADL National Director Abraham Foxman said “this comparison is misleading because of extreme underreporting by law enforcement agencies.”

Antisemitism Notebook

Your weekly guide through the news and the noise of how rising antisemitism and disputes over how to address it are shaping American Jewish life.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

Foxman called for governmental officials, police departments and civil rights leaders to work to obtain the missing data.

“We will also urge Congress, the Justice Department, and the FBI to explore new steps that could be taken to ensure more accurate, helpful statistics,” he said.

“When an agency does not participate in the HCSA program, it inevitably raises questions about whether that agency is truly ready and willing to respond to hate violence effectively.”

Some 674 anti-Semitic incidents were reported in the 2012 report, nearly two-thirds of the attacks against religious groups.

Hate Crime Statistics Act reporting has been voluntary since 1991. Some 13,022 law enforcement agencies out of approximately 18,000 provided data to the FBI in 2012. By comparison, approximately 14,500 agencies reported in 2011.

The ADL poll “American Attitudes Toward Jews in America,” which was conducted in 2013 after a two-year hiatus, found that 12 percent of Americans hold very anti-Semitic attitudes, down from 15 percent in 2011.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

$36 $500

$120 $180 Other amount