Dive Brief:
- Hate crimes more than doubled at elementary and secondary schools from 2018 to 2022, and by that last year, schools had become the third most known common location for hate crimes, according to FBI data released Monday.
- Between 2018 and 2022, hate crime offenses at elementary and secondary schools steadily increased, from 369 to 842. About 7% of 12,083 reported hate crimes nationwide — or a total of 842 incidents — occurred on elementary and secondary school grounds in 2022, per the federal agency's count.
- Schools were the third most common known location for hate crimes against Black or African American, Jewish and LGBT individuals, with 344, 109 and 54 such incidents documented respectively on school grounds in 2022.
Dive Insight:
The steady rise in hate crimes on school grounds comes in the wake of increased violence and behavioral issues noted after the COVID-19 pandemic — and as the U.S. Department of Education has urged schools to address rising hate incidents.
In addition, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found in a 2019 survey that lesbian, gay and bisexual high school students were nearly twice as likely as their straight peers to feel unsafe at school and face bullying. Rates of mental health challenges faced by LGBTQ+ students are suspected to have increased in recent years with the spread of anti-LGBTQ+ laws.
Schools and the Education Department have also called attention in recent months over an "alarming rise" in reports of antisemitic and anti-Islamic incidents, including hate crimes, in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war.
The department has opened over 35 Title VI investigations into public schools since the latest conflict began in October 2023. Title VI is the federal civil rights law that protects discrimination against discrimination on the basis of race, color and national origin in federally funded education programs.
However, the rise in antisemitic hate crimes at schools predated the Israel-Hamas war. On the same day the FBI released its report on hate crimes on school grounds, the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights settled a June 2023 investigation into Delaware's Red Clay Consolidated School District's handling of antisemitic harassment. The department found that the district’s response to incidents — such as classmates throwing paper airplanes emblazoned with "Blood of Jews" and swastikas — were "often haphazard" and "inconsistently enforced."
"Every student has the right to a learning environment that is free from discrimination," said Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Catherine Lhamon in a Nov. 2023 letter to schools.
The department also warned districts it would vigorously enforce Title VI and has continued to do so in recent months.
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