Hate crimes can happen anywhere, but increasingly they are taking place in schools, per a new report.

About 10% of reported hate crimes in 2022 took place in places of learning, according to a new Federal Bureau of Investigation report released Monday. The report found that school was the third most common setting for a hate crime, following homes and roadways.

What You Need To Know

  • 10% of hate crimes in 2022 occurred in schools, according to a new analysis from the Federal Bureau of Investigation

  • School is the third most common setting for hate crimes, following homes and roadways

  • Elementary/secondary schools were the most frequently reported educational location for hate crime offenses between 2018 and 2022

  • Intimidation is the most common type of reported hate crime at schools

Hate crimes involve an illegal, often violent act motivated by prejudice toward a person’s ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation. They are distinct from hate incidents, which include name calling, insults or the distribution of hate materials in public places.

The FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program has collected hate crime data from federal law enforcement agencies since 1990. Until 2010, the UCRP had a single category for hate crimes in schools that lumped all educational institutions into a single category. It is now separated into three camps: Elementary/secondary, college/university and school/college.

Over the five-year period of the new FBI study, from 2018 to 2022, elementary/secondary schools were the most frequently reported school locations for hate crime offenses between 2018 and 2022. October is the most common month for reported hate crimes in schools, with an average of 4.1 offenses per day. The most common time of year for reported hate crimes in schools was October through December, which accounted for almost a third of the offenses.

The most common type of reported hate crime at schools was intimidation, followed by destruction, damage or vandalism and simple assault.

The most common type of bias-oriented hate crime offenses at school was directed toward Black people. Anti-Jewish and anti-LGBT bias ranked second and third.

The FBI’s Hate Crimes in Schools report comes almost three months after the agency reported significant increases in hate crimes despite an overall decline in violent crime. In 2022, incidents, offenses and victims of hate crimes were up about 7%. Intimidation was the most reported hate crime offense, followed by simple assault, vandalism, aggravated assault and larceny/theft.

Reported hate crime offenses increased 57% since 2018, the agency found, from 8,492 in 2018 to 13,346 in 2022.