Hate Crimes See Unexpected Dip in Election Year 2024, But Concerns Remain

Preliminary data from the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University reveals a slight decrease in reported hate crimes across the nation’s largest cities in 2024. This decline, amounting to approximately 2.7% from the record highs of 2023, is considered unprecedented and unexpected, especially given the historical trend of rising hate crimes during election years. The data encompasses reports from 42 major cities, including New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Portland, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia.

While the overall number of reported hate crimes fell to at least 3,268, the report highlights a concerning divergence in the trends. The ten most populous cities experienced an even more significant decline in hate crimes overall, but incidents targeting Jewish and Muslim individuals continued to escalate amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas.

Brian Levin, professor emeritus at California State University and founder of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, emphasized the historical significance of this downward trend in an election year. "This is the first time since modern record keeping started in 91 nationally that an election year was down, but we had an unusual increase the year before because of an unexpected international conflict," Levin stated.

The decline in 2024 stands in stark contrast to previous election years, such as 2016, which witnessed a surge in hate crimes in the month of the election. According to Levin, some major cities saw a substantial decrease in hate crimes during the final months of 2024. He suggests that this anomaly may be attributed to a shift in how individuals express their biases, with some feeling more emboldened to voice their bigotry in ways that do not necessarily constitute a crime.

Levin elaborated on this point, noting the relaxation of content moderation policies on social media platforms, which may have provided an outlet for prejudiced sentiments. "I think a lot of people were expressing their prejudice in other ways, at rallies or online, and venting their frustrations," Levin said.

Despite the overall decline, Levin cautioned against premature celebration, emphasizing that the underlying issues of hate and extremism remain deeply entrenched. He pointed to data from the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism, which shows that the number of people killed by extremists in America in 2025 has already exceeded the previous year’s death toll and is expected to rise further. "Its not that crisis has declined … this may be a coiled spring, where the prejudicial stereotypes that are now so widely circulated, one of them is going to spark something," Levin warned.

The data reveals a disturbing trend of rising anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim hate crimes. Anti-Muslim hate crimes increased by 18% across 28 cities, while hate crimes against Jews rose by approximately 11% in 35 cities. This trajectory suggests that anti-Jewish incidents may reach another record high. These findings align with trends observed by advocacy organizations representing both communities.

The Anti-Defamation League reported over 10,000 antisemitic incidents in the United States in the year following the deadly October 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas militants. The organization attributes this spike partially to a change in its definition of such incidents. The Council on American-Islamic Relations documented 4,951 complaints of anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian hate in the first half of 2024, representing a 69% increase compared to the same period the previous year. The organization anticipates that its total complaints for 2024 will surpass those received in 2023.

In contrast to the rise in anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim hate, anti-Asian hate crimes experienced a decline of over 14% last year in 29 cities. This decrease follows a dramatic rise in such incidents during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, advocacy organization Stop AAPI Hate has observed a concerning surge in anti-Asian slurs and threats of violence in domestic extremist spaces online following the 2024 election.

Stop AAPI Hate attributes these surges to anti-immigrant and racist rhetoric from President Donald Trump and his allies. The organization specifically noted spikes in December, when Trump, Elon Musk, and Vivek Ramaswamy engaged in a public dispute over the H-1B visa program, and in January, amid scrutiny of Chinese-owned companies such as TikTok and DeepSeek AI.

Manjusha Kulkarni, co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate, emphasized the connection between online rhetoric and real-world incidents. "Whats happening online often corresponds with hate incidents in the real world and their data can shed light on gaps in official data that result from underreporting and the challenges of prosecuting hate," Kulkarni stated. She further explained that the vast majority of hate incidents reported to Stop AAPI Hate do not meet the legal definition of a hate crime, highlighting the limitations of relying solely on official data. "I dont think we have a full understanding of what it is our community members are experiencing," she added.

The FBI defines a hate crime as a "criminal offense which is motivated, in whole or in part, by the offender’s bias(es) against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity." Law enforcement agencies reported over 12,000 hate crimes to the FBI in 2023, according to the bureau’s most recent data.

However, the reporting of hate crimes to the federal government is not mandatory for all law enforcement agencies, leading to significant flaws in the national data. Levin highlighted the various challenges in the reporting chain, from victims not reporting incidents to law enforcement agencies failing to properly classify reported incidents as potential hate crimes. He also noted that changes in how law enforcement agencies track these crimes can result in incomplete data submissions.

Levin pointed out discrepancies in the FBI’s data, suggesting that it may be missing hundreds of victims from California. He cited inconsistencies between the number of hate crime victims attributed to the Los Angeles Police Department by state and county officials and the figures reported to the FBI.

In response to inquiries about these discrepancies, an FBI spokesperson stated that its data represents information submitted by the state of California for the LAPD and directed further questions to the department. The spokesperson also noted that differences in how local police departments define hate crimes compared to the FBI’s UCR Program can lead to variations in reporting statistics.

Levin acknowledged that his own data is not complete but emphasized its value in illustrating broader trends across the country. "Even with declines, we are hovering either at, slightly above or off records, and are historically elevated because this has been a bad decade," he concluded.