Hate Crime in NYS 2009 Annual Report:
Last week, we reported that a gay artist in the sleepy hamlet of Pine Hill was possibly the victim of a hate crime when his house was torched on Thanksgiving. If it turns out that the arson was attacking Richard Treitner because he was gay, it would be part of a disturbing region-wide trend.
A report issued by the New York Division of Criminal Justice Services last week on hate crimes across the state shows that the number of attacks are on the rise in the Catskills, particularly in the counties of Ulster, Sullivan, and Greene. (The full report is reproduced above.)
In 2008, Ulster County reported only one hate crime. In 2009, that number jumped to five hate crimes, not including the Pine Hill arson, which has not officially been classified as a hate crime. In Sullivan County, two hate crimes in 2008 have jumped to four in 2009. In Greene County, one hate crime was reported in 2008, while three were reported in 2009.
Delaware County has cause to celebrate -- while there was one hate crime reported in 2008, there were none reported in 2009. And Schoharie County isn't even on the list for either year. (Of course, these statistics only include reported hate crimes. It's quite possible that many occur and are never reported.)
Those who are most frequently-targeted by hate crimes are Jews, followed by blacks and gay men. The report doesn't break down the type of victim by county, so it's not possible to see which minority groups in the Catskills have been targeted. But if Treitner's experience is any indication, gay men have more to fear in Ulster County than they have in years past.
Correction: This post has been edited to correct several references to 2009 as "last year." Happy New Year, everyone!
Correction #2: An alert commenter has pointed out that I mistakenly wrote that blacks are the largest minority group targeted by hate crimes in New York. In fact, Jews are the most targeted, followed by blacks and gay men. My apologies for the error.
