FBI: The Number of Hate- Related Offenses Declined in U.S. in 2014

Transcription

1 FBI: The Number of Hate- Related Offenses Declined in U.S. in 2014 FBI HATE CRIMES REPORT 2014 Law enforcement agencies submitted incident reports involving 5,479 criminal incidents and 6,418 offenses as being motivated by bias toward race, gender, gender identity, religion, disability, sexual orientation, and ethnicity in 2014, according to the Hate Crime Statistics, 2014, the Uniform Crime Reporting Program. Those numbers are down from 2013 when 5,928 criminal incidents were reported involving 6,933 offenses. There were 5,462 single-bias incidents involving 6,681 victims, the FBI report stated. A percent distribution of victims by bias type showed that 48.3 percent of victims were targeted because of the offenders racial bias, 18.7 percent were victimized because of the offenders sexual-orientation bias, 17.1 percent were targeted because of the offenders religious bias, and 12.3 percent were victimized due to ethnicity bias. Victims targeted because of the offenders bias against gender

2 identity accounted for 1.6 percent of victims of single-bias incidents; disabilities, 1.4 percent; and gender, 0.6 percent. There were 17 multiple-bias hate crime incidents involving 46 victims. Of the 4,048 hate crime offenses classified as crimes against persons in 2014, intimidation accounted for 43.1 percent, simple assault accounted for 37.4 percent, and aggravated assault for 19.0 percent. Four murders and nine rapes (all nine from agencies that collected data using the revised rape definition) were reported as hate crimes. Beginning with the 2013 data collection, the UCR Program s revised definition of rape is Penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim. [This includes the offenses of rape, sodomy, and sexual assault with an object as converted from data submitted via the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS).] The UCR Program s legacy definition of rape is The carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will. There were 2,317 hate crime offenses classified as crimes against property. The majority of these (73.1 percent) were acts of destruction/damage/vandalism. Robbery, burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, arson, and other offenses accounted for the remaining 26.9 percent of crimes against property. In the report, the term known offender does not imply that the suspect s identity is known; rather, the term indicates that some aspect of the suspect was identified, thus distinguishing the suspect from an unknown offender. Law enforcement agencies specify the number of offenders and,

3 when possible, the race of the offender or offenders as a group. Beginning in 2013, law enforcement officers could also report whether suspects were juveniles or adults, as well as the suspect s ethnicity when possible. Of the 5,192 known offenders, 52.0 percent were white, and 23.2 percent were black or African-American. The race was unknown for 16.0 percent. Other races accounted for the remaining known offenders: 1.1 percent were American Indian or Alaska Native; 0.8 percent were Asian; less than 0.1 percent were Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander; and 6.9 percent were of a group of multiple races. Of the 1,875 offenders for whom ages were known, 81.0 percent were 18 years of age or older. Of the 975 offenders for whom ethnicity was reported, 47.6 percent were Not Hispanic or Latino, 6.5 percent were Hispanic or Latino, and 1.7 percent were in a group of multiple ethnicities. Ethnicity was unknown for 44.2 percent of these offenders Most hate crime incidents (31.6 percent) occurred in or near residences/homes. Nearly 18 percent (17.8) occurred on highways/roads/alleys/streets/sidewalks; 8.6 percent occurred at schools/colleges; 6.3 percent happened at parking/drop lots/garages; and 3.6 percent took place in churches/synagogues/temples/mosques. The location was considered other/unknown for 11.9 percent of hate crime incidents. The remainder of hate crime incidents took place at other specified or multiple locations.

4 Former Assistant Police Chief Beat Suspect and Lied About It to FBI Agent ALABAMA Former Tallassee, Alabama, Assistant Police Chief, 41, plead guilty today in a federal court to beating a suspect who he was interrogating, striking him with a phone-book-sized packet of paper, officials said. Miles then lied about the incident to an FBI agent investigating the matter, according to authorities. He plead guilty to one count of deprivation of rights and two counts of false statements, officials said. Miles also pleaded guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute for abusing his position as assistant police chief. He wanted to steal about 16 pounds of marijuana from an evidence room, later selling it to a known drug dealer, officials said.

5 During the plea hearing, Miles admitted that in April 2013, while he was on duty as assistant police chief, he beat a prisoner who was serving a sentence at Tallassee Jail while he was interrogating the inmate about uncharged crimes the inmate was suspected of having committed. During the interrogation, Miles said he grabbed a thick packet of copy paper and used it to strike the victim multiple times across the victim s face and head. Miles also repeatedly slapped the victim across the face and head with his hand. Miles abuse caused the victim to suffer bruising, redness and physical pain, according to authorities. The defendant intentionally violated a man s fundamental civil rights and threatened to weaken the public s confidence in our criminal justice system when he decided to beat a suspect into a confession, and to further engage in narcotics trafficking, said Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta, head of the Civil Rights Division. His blatant criminal conduct undermines the dedicated efforts of the vast majority of law enforcement officers who serve honorably. The Justice Department will continue to protect the rights of all individuals, including those in custody, to be free from such abuse and criminal conduct. Miles was a maverick, working outside the law, said U.S. Attorney George L. Beck Jr. Fortunately the overwhelming majority of our law enforcement officials act reasonably and within the bounds of the Constitution. Miles s sentencing date has not yet been scheduled. He faces up to 10 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000 for the deprivation of rights count. For each of the other counts, he faces up to five years in prison and a

6 maximum fine of $250,000, officials said. Operator of "RockDizMusic" Sentenced to Three Years for Copyright Infringement VIRGINIA A federal judge sentenced the operator of a music piracy website to three years in prison after the defendant admitted to criminal copyright infringement by reproducing and distributing without permission millions of digital copies of copyrighted works, officials said. This included copies of popular songs and albums before they were commercially available, federal officials said. In connection with his guilty plea, Rocky P. Ouprasith, of Charlotte, N.C. admitted that the market value of his illegally pirated material was more than $2.5 million, according to authorities. But court evidence indicate that the market value of Ouprasith s illegally-pirated material was more than $6 million, officials said.

7 U.S. District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith of Virginia also ordered Ouprasith to forfeit $50,851 and pay $48,288 in restitution. On Aug. 21, Ouprasith pleaded guilty to one count of criminal copyright infringement According to the Recording Industry Association of America, in 2013, RockDizFile.com was the second-largest online file sharing website. According to the Statement of Facts and other evidence, between May 2011 and October 2014, Ouprasith operated RockDizMusic.com, a website originally hosted on servers in France and later in Canada, from which Internet users could find and download infringing digital copies of popular, copyrighted songs and albums. Ouprasith admitted that he obtained digital copies of copyrighted songs and albums from online sources. He also encouraged and solicited others, referred to as affiliates, to upload digital copies of copyrighted songs and albums to websites, including RockDizFile.com, that were hosted on servers in Russia, France and the Netherlands, and that hosted hyperlinks to content being offered for download on RockDizMusic.com., according to officials. Ouprasith further admitted that to encourage such activity, he agreed to pay the affiliates based on the number of downloads from his website, officials said. Officials said Ouprasith admitted that, in 2013 and 2014, he either ignored or pretended to take remedial action in response to complaints from copyright holders and their representatives that the website contained links to infringing copies protected songs and albums. In October 2014, federal law enforcement authorities shut

8 down RockDizMusic.com and RockDizFile.com, and law enforcement authorities in the Netherlands and France seized file-hosting servers utilized by Ouprasith, according to authorities. Judge: "the facts of this (fraud) case are particularly despicable" Sentences 66- Year-Old Woman to Prison LOS ANGELES U.S. District Court Judge Dolly M. Gee In sentencing Carol Ejdowski to nearly five years for fraud, U.S. District Court Judge Dolly M. Gee didn t mince words to described Ejdowski s crimes, officials said today.

9 Judge Gee said the facts of this case are particularly despicable. Pointing to the defendant s multiple prior convictions for fraud, grand theft and perjury, Judge Gee called Ejdowski a recidivist of the highest order who had shown her disrespect for the law repeatedly, officials said. The judge sentenced Ejdowski to four years and 10 months behind bars, noting the woman s 40-year history of fraudulent conduct. Ejdowski used checks stolen from a woman in a West Hills nursing home to purchase hundreds of dollars in merchandise a crime she committed while on supervised released in another federal fraud case. Although the low loss amount was low, prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memo that Ejdowski s criminal conduct was particularly deplorable because it targeted a defenseless, 70-year-old, half-paralyzed woman who was living by herself in a nursing home/rehab facility. In a sentencing memorandum, prosecutors detailed Ejdowski s history of fraud offenses, with convictions going back to the 1970s, according to officials. Ejdowski, a transient who had recently been residing in Beverly Hills, committed the offense while she was on supervised release, officials indicated. When she defrauded the elderly victim, officials said Ejdowski was serving a three-year period of supervised released after pleading guilty to passport fraud related to a credit card scam, serving a 63-month federal prison term and being released in late Ejdowski plead guilty in September 2014 to one count of bank fraud, admitting that she stole checks from the victim that

10 she used to purchase merchandise at Costco and Walmart. Ejdowski was originally scheduled to be sentenced on April 29, but she failed to appear for that hearing and was a fugitive until she was arrested and incarcerated in August, according to authorities. While Ejdowski admitted in court that she used stolen checks, prosecutors argued that she also used the victim s credit cards in a scheme that cause $1,925 in losses. This case demonstrates the Department of Justice s commitment to prosecuting those who prey upon the most vulnerable in our community, said U.S. Attorney Eileen M. Decker. Standing alone, the monetary loss in this case did not adequately reflect the gravity of defendant s crime, but today s significant sentence should send a message to all those who would seek to victimize the vulnerable. The FBI investigated this case.