New Report: How to Address Rising Hate Crimes in New York City

NEW YORK, NY – In recent years, New York City has faced a series of high-profile hate crimes against several minority groups. Earlier violence against American Jews and Asians has preceded a surge in bias-motivated crimes over the last year. Both former mayor Bill de Blasio and Mayor Eric Adams have acknowledged the surge, as have the NYPD and the city’s District Attorneys. Still, the number of hate crimes today has reached a level similar to that of the early 1990s, posing a problem for America’s largest city as it looks to recover from the economic shutdowns and soaring violence of the last few years. 

In a new report for the Manhattan Institute, fellow Charles Fain Lehman examines the scale and contours of rising hate crimes and offers policy recommendations to address this urgent problem. He provides an insightful data analysis of offenses, victims, and offenders, including where and how these trends have shifted over time. Lehman also lays out the theoretical case for delineating hate crimes uniquely from crime in general and reminds readers of why these offenses merit a special scrutiny to keep people safe. Advocating a “focused deterrence” approach, he provides several policy angles for New York leaders  to maximize public safety for Americans of all backgrounds. These include:

• Zero tolerance for hate crime offending, facilitated by a surge in NYPD resources; 

• An all-of-government messaging campaign in tandem with the surge; 

• A specific focus on identifying and treating serious mental illness; 

• More data transparency from across the criminal justice system. 

New Yorkers and elected officials are all too aware of the scourge of hate crimes facing the city. The new administration faces a challenge in reversing the troubling recent trends. But that challenge is also an opportunity to make New York City a leading example for policymakers across the country. With the right policy approach, Americans could learn a lot from New York City’s response to this problem. 

Click here to read the full report.