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NBC News: Only 3% of reported attacks on Asian Americans led to hate crime convictions, new report says
Just 7 out of the 233 anti-Asian attacks during 2021 resulted in a guilty plea to a hate crime, the Asian American Bar Association of New York report showed.
By Tat Bellamy-Walker
Only 3 percent of anti-Asian attacks in New York City resulted in a hate crime conviction, according to a report released this week by the Asian American Bar Association of New York.
The report, “Endless Tide: The continuing struggle to overcome anti-Asian hate in New York,” shows that only seven out of 233 anti-Asian attacks reported last year led to a guilty plea to a hate crime.
The report also found that Asian American women were victims in more than half of the attacks, which most commonly included assault, and affected individuals between the ages of 20 and 49.
In light of the findings, the association is calling for officials to improve the collection of public hate crime data, remove barriers to reporting hate incidents, education, bail reform, develop anti-bias programming and make changes to hate crime legislation.
“It was difficult for them to have their alleged hate crimes be recognized,” Chris Kwok, an association board member and the co-executive editor of the report, told NBC News. “We think that it’s because people find it hard to think of Asian Americans as victims of hate crimes.”
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Stanley Mark, senior staff attorney at the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, called for legal groups to work with more community-based organizations.
“That type of work needs to be funded and encouraged,” he said. “Beyond law enforcement, as a way to try to prevent more hate crimes from occurring.”