M E D I A   R E L E A S E For Immediate Release July 22, 2003 GAY & LESBIAN ANTI-VIOLENCE PROJECT APPLAUDS RELEASE OF STATE'S 2001 HATE CRIME REPORT Questions Relevance of Data New York – The New York City Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project (AVP) welcomed the long-awaited release of Hate Crime Statistics by New York State. The statistics were released in a report compiled by the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services. The findings which compare 2000 and 2001, represent the first such report since the initiation of New York State's Hate Crimes law in October 2000. The report contains information on the number of incidents, bias motivations, types of offenses, victims and targets, offenders, and arrests in cases targeting victims' perceived religion, race, ethnicity and sexual orientation. According to DCJS, there were 975 reported incidents in 2001 out of which 112 (11.5%) were anti-lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. This is in stark contrast to the New York City Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project's report from the same period, in which it recorded 547 incidents; 379 of which were criminal offenses. "Clearly there were far more anti-LGTB incidents in New York State than even the number of crimes reported to AVP, let alone the few contained in this official report," said Richard Haymes, AVP's Executive Director. "It's not surprising that only 112 incidents of anti-LGTB hate violence were reported to authorities and classified as being 'hate motivated.' Our community has a long, justified history of distrust for police and other law enforcement agencies, and the passage of a law does not automatically change that," continued Haymes. "Additionally, even in New York City, where law enforcement classified crimes as hate-motivated and collected statistics long before the Hate Crimes Bill was passed in Albany, there is a history of reticence on the part of police to classify such crimes," said Haymes. "Our annual reports reflect incidents brought to our agency by victims that may or may not have been reported to the police," said Clarence Patton, AVP's Director of Community Organizing and Public Advocacy. "Many victims in our community are not willing to face the real or perceived possibility of revictimization at the hands of authorities, and therefore choose to get the counseling, medical care and other important services they need to put their lives back together, while opting to not attempt to press charges. We always leave that choice to the client, and we support and understand their decision regardless of whether or not they decide to file an official police report," continued Patton AVP also questioned the import of the data in the DCJS report. The report compares year 2000 statistics (the year before the bill was passed) with those from 2001 – the first full year after the bill's enactment. There was a 25% rise noted in the comparison. "The only significant change we know for sure from other states' experiences, is that when a hate crimes law is passed, there is a rise in reported incidents that first year," said Haymes. "We absolutely cannot interpret the jump in the DCJS report as evidence of more hate across the state – it just means that more people knew to report it and felt empowered to do so and perhaps a few more jurisdictions counted what they had previously declined to count," added Haymes. However, while the law mandates the reporting of such incidents, many jurisdictions across the state are ill-prepared to handle these types of cases, and are out of compliance with the state requirements. In 2000, only 36 out of 539 jurisdictions in New York State submitted data on hate crimes to the FBI. In 2001, after the institution of the Hate Crimes Bill, that number had risen to 63 out of 568 jurisdictions. "The reporting mandate must be enforced, and at the same time, police and prosecutors around the state need training on the various affected communities in order for the law to be meaningful to victims. We look to the release of this report as an opening to work with DCJS to truly put the state's Hate Crimes Law into practice to help give law enforcement the training and tools they need and to work with communities to begin preventing, hate crimes from happening in the first place" Haymes concluded. AVP's Hate Violence Reports from 1998 on are available for download on our Publications page, or by calling 212-714-1184. The New York City Gay & Lesbian Anti-Violence Project (AVP) is the nation's largest service agency for victims of bias crimes against the lesbian, gay, transgender, bisexual, and HIV-affected communities. For twenty-three years, AVP has provided counseling and advocacy for thousands of victims of bias-motivated violence as well as for survivors of domestic violence, rape and sexual assault, HIV-related violence, and police misconduct. AVP documents incidents of violence against and within LGTB communities, educates the public about the effects of violence, against or within our communities, and works to reform public policies impacting all lesbian, gay, transgender, bisexual, and HIV-affected people. AVP provides free and confidential assistance to crime victims through our 24-hour bilingual hotline (212-714-1141).