ALBANY -- Hate crimes across New York state jumped 14 percent in 2009, led by an increase in attacks on Jews and Jewish institutions, state records released yesterday show.
There were 683 hate crimes reported to police authorities across the state in 2009 compared with 599 in 2008, according to a report released by the state Division of Criminal Justice Services.
In New York City, reported hate crimes rose 6 percent, from 259 to 275. The city accounted for 40 percent of all hate crimes in the state last year.
Brooklyn was the borough with the highest number of hate crimes, 92, followed by Manhattan, 70, Queens, 61, The Bronx, 33, and Staten Island, 19.
Nassau County had 82 reported incidents, down from 100 in 2008, Suffolk County had 80 incidents, up from 62, and Westchester County had 23 incidents, up from 16.
One of the most notorious hate crimes in recent years occurred in Suffolk, where Ecuadorean immigrant Marcelo Lucero was beaten and stabbed to death near the Patchogue train station by a slur-shouting mob.
Jeffrey Conroy, one of seven youths connected to the November 2008 attack, was convicted of manslaughter as a hate crime last year and sentenced to 25 years in prison. The others are serving sentences ranging from five to seven years.
The report found that nearly a quarter of all attacks in 2009 were carried out by two or more people. More than 7 percent were carried out by four or more people.
Also, 31 percent of all known offenders were 24 or younger, and 12.2 percent of all known offenders were women.
Most of the hate crimes in the new state records involved assaults or intimidation, 45 percent, or damage and destruction to property, 44 percent. A total of 179 individuals were arrested on hate-crime charges in connection with the incidents.
Anti-Semitic incidents, which made up 37 percent of the reported hate crimes, were up 15 percent in one year, from 219 in 2008 to 251 in 2009.
The report found anti-black crimes, 21 percent of the total, were down slightly from 147 in 2008 to 144 in 2009. Anti-white hate crimes increased from 21 to 29.
Anti-gay hate crimes were up sharply, with those targeting male homosexuals jumping 32 percent, from 62 to 82, and those aimed at lesbians up by more than 200 percent, from eight to 25.
Crimes motivated by anti-Muslim sentiment rose from eight to 11.
"A hate crime is an offense not only against a specific individual, but against an entire community," said Sean Byrne, acting commissioner of the Division of Criminal Justice Services.
He called it a "form of domestic terrorism."
The report also showed that nearly 30 percent of those convicted of a hate crime were sentenced to prison and 18 percent were given probation.
fredric.dicker@nypost.com
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/ny_sees_surge_in_hate_IM7xmcNGdI0pEowrCRZZII#ixzz19imjl0l1
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