New FBI data indicates the number of hate crimes happening across the country is increasing.
On Tuesday, the FBI released its annual Hate Crime Statistics report. It found a 17 percent increase in the number of reported hate crimes in 2017, compared with the previous year.
More than half of those crimes were motivated by race, with African-Americans being the most frequent victims.
Religion was the second most common motivation, and 60 percent of those crimes were anti-semitic.
But there are a few notes to keep in mind when considering these numbers. Submitting crime information to this database is voluntary, so not every law enforcement agency participates.
The 2017 data includes information from almost 900 more agencies than 2016. So the increase in reporting is likely a factor in the increased number of hate crimes.
