July 19, 2011
 
Division of Criminal Justice Services report underestimates hate violence against LGBTQ New Yorkers
 
Last week the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP) released its report Hate Violence Against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and HIV-Affected Communities in the United States in 2010.  NCAVP collected data concerning hate violence against LGBTQ and HIV-affected people from 17 anti-violence programs in 15 states across the country including data from the New York City Anti-Violence Project (AVP) which coordinates the coalition.  NCAVP’s report shows an 11% increase in reports of hate violence in New York City from 2009 to 2010.  AVP recorded 400 incidents of hate violence in New York City in 2010. 
 
The Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) also published its report last week, Hate Crime in New York State 2010 Annual Report.  The DCJS report records only 138 incidents of hate violence in New York State that were, in the language of their report, motivated by bias against sexual orientation and gender identity/expression.  This is less than half the amount of incidents than NCAVP recorded for New York City alone.  AVP is concerned that DCJS has gravely underestimated the amount of anti-LGBTQ hate violence incidents.    
 
NCAVP’s report documented that in 2010, 50.1% of survivors did not report to the police, which could explain this difference in the number of reported incidents counted by DCJS.  Additionally, the NCAVP report found that transgender people were less likely to report incidents to the police.  This may explain why DCJS only documented one incident reported due to bias against gender Identity and expression.
 
NCAVP recognizes that its own numbers are just the tip of the iceberg.  These 400 incidents only reflect the incidents that were reported to AVP and not the total amount of anti-LGBTQ violence in New York City.  The degree of undercounting by DCJS is unacceptable and harms LGBTQ New Yorkers.  These numbers are used to estimate the need for programs to support LGBTQ survivors and to prevent violence and undercounting put LGBTQ communities at risk.  NCAVP recommends that federal, state, and local governments collect data on anti-LGBTQ hate violence.  AVP encourages New York State to follow this recommendation by increasing the identities that data is collected on, reducing barriers to reporting violence for LGBTQ and HIV-affected New Yorkers, and increasing resources for data collection on LGBTQ and HIV-affected communities. 
 
Read more about NCAVP’s 2010 Hate Violence Report online on the Huffington Post.

AVP encourages you to report any anti-LGBTQ bias, including hate speech, bullying, harassment, and physical violence, to our 24-hour bilingual (English/Spanish) hotline at 212-714-1141 where you can speak with a trained counselor and seek the support you need.  More information about the New York City Anti-Violence Project can be found at our website and Facebook page.