Thread: Crime data fails to address Hispanic population

The FBI reports for hate crimes just released breakout hispanics as victims on ethic groups. On the offenders side they are included in 'whites'.

If a hispanic offender commits a 'hate' crime against a white person it is not considered a racial hate crime.

http://www.nbc-2.com/articles/readartic ... 692&z=3&p=

Crime data fails to address Hispanic population
Local News

LEE COUNTY: The NBC2 Investigators have uncovered a flaw in the crime statistics reporting system. Statistics show 88-percent of people arrested are white, 12-percent are black and less than 1-percent are Asian or Indian. NBC2 wanted to know why Hispanics are not being counted like other minority groups.

NBC2’s investigation started with 150 booking sheets from the Lee County Jail from two days in May. We found dozens of Hispanic men and women who were arrested and listed under race as white.

When we asked several people, we found there is confusion over the definition of race.

Christina Leddin of The Amigo Center, an agency designed to help immigrant families, says it's a common misconception that Hispanic is a race.

"Hispanic is not really a race, it's an ethnicity," said Leddin.

The US government doesn't consider Hispanic a race either. Instead, it's an ethnic origin.

Hispanics come from all over the globe including Spain, Puerto Rico, Mexico and Central America. Leddin says to be Hispanic is to be of Spanish-speaking or of Latin American descent.

"The reality is I could be a black Hispanic or a white Hispanic, an Asian Hispanic, I could be a Native American Hispanic," said Leddin.

For that reason, local law enforcement does not report the number of Hispanics arrested. Instead, they are grouped within one of the four race categories. Most of the time, they are listed as white.

"FDLE follows the national guidelines. We have white, black, Asian, Indian as race. Those are the guidelines we go by," said Larry Long of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Leddin says Hispanics should not be tracked in a separate group when it comes to crime statistics since they aren't a race.

Others disagree.

"Well, it's misleading," said Peggy Harris.

Harris, a community activist, says listing Hispanics as white skews crime statistics.

"That's terrible, just terrible," said Harris.

Digging deeper, we learned the Florida Highway Patrol is the only local law enforcement agency that actually tracks and publishes Hispanic crime data in the form of traffic stops.

"If you want to see who is committing the crimes, they should be classified," said Harris.

NAACP President Willie Green agrees.

"I think it's a very unethical way of doing it," said Green.

He says it is unfair to track the number of blacks committing crime but not all other groups.

"It's not right. It's far from a level playing field," said Green.

An FBI document explains Uniform Crime Reports help law enforcement determine how to spend its money, allocate resources and address crime problems.

Dr. Duane Dobbert, a criminal justice researcher with FGCU, has studied the issue for 38 years. He says Hispanics are not the same as whites and crime statistics should reflect that.

"They have different needs, different cultural expectations and we need to address these," said Dobbert.

Dobbert says including Hispanics in crime reports would keep the community safer and actually help Hispanics as a whole.

"They're going to see services directed toward Spanish speaking cultures. They're going to see an understanding of their culture," said Dobbert.

That could mean more Spanish speaking officers patrolling the roads.

"I think Spanish speaking social workers, I think that's critically important," said

As for whether the record keeping will change, the FBI says it would cost the country way too much money. Forms, training materials, and computer systems would all have to be changed to include Hispanic.

"Well, this is a system that has been around since 1931, and it's a good system. I think it’s not a perfect system," said Long.

Harris says it should be.

"I know there's a situation here, it needs to be fixed," said Harris.

Since last fall, the Lee County Sheriff's Office has listed Hispanic on its incident reports and booking sheets. They say it is for description only so they can keep track of inmates and criminals on the streets. The information is used within the department only and does not factor into crime statistics.

© 2007 by NBC2 NEWS. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

http://www.kpbs.org/news/local;id=10274

New Numbers: Hate Crimes Against Latinos Have Jumped in San Diego
Nov 21, 2007
Amy Isackson

A new FBI report says hate crimes based on ethnicity doubled from 2005 to 2006 in San Diego County. Law enforcement officials estimate 70 percent of this year's attacks are aimed at Latinos. KPBS reporter Amy Isackson has the story.

According to the FBI's report, the number of hate crimes based on ethnicity doubled in San Diego County from six reported crimes in 2005 to 12 in 2006.

Oscar Garcia, the Deputy District Attorney who specializes in hate crime prosecutions, says Latinos are being targeted.

He says the number of Latino victims has jumped again this year, though he doesn't have official statistics.

Garcia: It's not surprising with the current debate nationally as well as locally with regards to immigration. We see it locally with what's going on at the day labor sites. Of course we have to have enforcement of the day labor laws, but those day labor sites seem to attract hate mongers who use that as an excuse and hide behind the flag and claim they're merely trying to express political views.

Garcia says both illegal immigrants and U.S. citizens who are Latino have been victimized in San Diego.

Amy Isackson, KPBS News.

The reason is that because "Hispanic" is an ethnicity, not a race. The article is correct in that most Hispanic crimes get lumped in with "white." Since most illegal aliens are Hispanic, and they are committing a lot of crime, that bumps up the rate for "white."

For proof of that, take a look at the FBI's MOST WANTED lists.

http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/topten/fugiti ... itives.htm
http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/fugitives/vc/ ... urders.htm
http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/fugitives/vc/ ... tional.htm
http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/fugitives/cac/fug_cac.htm

You'll note a bit of over-representation from the "family values" Hispanic illegal aliens.

Interestingly, hate crime can be committed against Hispanics, but Hispanics can not commit any hate crimes.

More egregious, is that the GOVT does not track crimes committed by foreign nationals on US soil. That would include a lot of Hispanic illegal aliens as well.

If you want details on all these subjects, see the VIOLENT CRIMES section in THE DARK SIDE OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION.

http://www.darksideofillegalimmigration.com/