PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The number of yearly hate crimes in New Jersey has reached the highest levels since those incidents were tracked in 1994, and it’s part of a recent yearly trend of bias crimes that the state’s acting attorney general calls disturbing.
For the third straight year, the number was a new record. According to acting New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin, crimes motivated by bias totaled 1,871 in 2021. That is 400 more than 2020 and 400% more than 2015, the year with the state’s lowest recorded total of bias crimes.
“It’s unacceptable,” said Platkin. “I want all of our residents to know that we’re tackling this issue head-on.”
Anti-Black crimes accounted for nearly 40% in 2021, and anti-Jewish crimes were 17%.
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Platkin said they are also seeing more anti-Asian and anti-LGBTQ crimes than ever.
“I think the most alarming aspect is how rapidly we’re seeing it increase across races, religions and demographic groups,” he added.
“Bias against Black New Jerseyans was contributed by rhetoric around the Black Lives Matter movement in the wake of George Floyd. There was also an impact from the racialized rhetoric from the 2020 election. And then, of course, anti-Asian bias incidents rose due to the rhetoric around the COVID-19 pandemic, so these words are not empty. They have an impact, and they’re causing significant pain to many of our residents.”
Platkin said another reason for the increase is that more people feel comfortable coming forward, and the state has made reporting easier.
“But there’s no denying that there’s an increase in these incidents overall,” he admitted.
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According to the New Jersey 2021 Bias Incident Report, the Cherry Hill Police Department saw more bias incidents than any other Delaware Valley municipality in 2021, with 28.
A similar 2020 report said that Cape May County saw the highest per capita amount of bias crimes in any New Jersey county with 3.5 per 10,000 people that year.
That was more than double the 1.5 per 10,000 in 2019. Mercer, Monmouth, Somerset, and Sussex counties all saw more than two bias crimes per 10,000 residents, and all those counties saw double the amount compared to 2019.
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Platkin acknowledged that not every instance involves enough available information to file charges, but when that evidence exists, the state will seek the maximum penalties possible. The state reported 100 arrests from the 1,447 New Jersey bias crimes in 2020.
The state is using more than $1 million in federal funding to raise awareness and reduce these incidents. New Jersey has an online portal for reporting as well as a hotline, 800-277-BIAS.
Click here for the New Jersey 2021 Bias Incident Report.
Click here for the 2020 report from the New Jersey State Police and Division of Civil Rights which identifies data trends about hate crimes and dives into the reasons for those trends.
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