Sikhs remain third most targeted religious group in latest FBI hate crime data

September 24, 2024 | By Sikh Siyasat Bureau

Washington, DC: On September 23, 2024, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) released the latest data on hate crimes in the US.

While the number of hate incidents against Sikhs is lower than the record high of 2022, Sikhs are still the third largest group when it comes to hate incidents targeting specific religious identities (after anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim incidents).

The total number of hate incidents, crimes, and victims of all forms of hate has increased since 2022. Since these data were collected in calendar year 2023, they do not fully reflect the presumed increase in violent hate following heightened national tensions surrounding global events from October 2023 onward or the contentious 2024 presidential election cycle.

A press release from the Sikh Coalition notes, “(Re)porting, as always, remains a significant challenge in collecting this data. On the positive side, the FBI is now pulling this data exclusively from the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) after a years-long transition process. While this has undoubtedly made it easier for local law enforcement agencies to participate in the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting program, unfortunately, thousands of agencies still report zero hate crimes to the FBI in their jurisdictions. This may be due to a complete lack of bias-motivated crimes in their areas, or it may be due to improper reporting, failure to investigate or prosecute bias-motivated crimes, or other such persistent problems. The Sikh Coalition continues to advocate for measures like the Improving Reporting to Prevent Hate Act (IRPHA) to incentivize local law enforcement agencies to make this dataset more representative of the scope of the problem.”

“More than 20 years after our founding during a time of deep crisis, combating and preventing hate crimes remains at the heart of the Sikh Coalition’s mission,” said Mannirmal Kaur, Federal Policy Manager for the Sikh Coalition.

“While we are encouraged by the slight decrease in anti-Sikh hate incidents, we remain alarmed that Sikhs remain among the most frequent targets of religious groups and are concerned by the overall lack of hate crimes reported by local law enforcement organizations. Furthermore, overall, the data shows 11,862 hate crimes in 2023 – up from 11,634 in 2022 – telling us that this work, on behalf of all marginalized communities, remains as important as ever,” she added.

“This week, members of the Sikh Coalition’s policy team will travel to Washington, DC, for the White House Initiative on Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander’s Policy Summit, where one of the topics discussed will be preventing and mitigating hate crimes. They will also meet with offices on Capitol Hill to discuss policy solutions like the IRPHA,” the Sikh Coalition’s press release reads.

“We also remain committed to ensuring that our and other communities’ experiences with violent hate remain part of the national dialogue, as evidenced by our work in support of last week’s (ultimately deeply problematic) U.S. Senate hearing. And finally, pro bono support for survivors of hate crimes remains a core part of our legal work; if you or someone you know has been targeted, please reach out for assistance in English or Punjabi,” the statement said.

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