We’re number 2 in the nation on this number one issue.

The FBI has just released its annual report on hate crimes committed in each of the 50 states. New Jersey ranks second in the number of hate crimes across America, behind only California. Like California, we have a very large number of immigrants coming to our state, both documented and undocumented. So, perhaps our environment may be one that is a breeding ground for hate crimes. Not something to be proud of.

This a self-reported statistic, by the way. And not all states may have participated equally. For example Alabama reported only a single hate crime. Georgia reported only 13. And Mississippi, reported that there were no hate crimes at all. Either they under-reported, or they chose not to participate. Although I risk being sued by Fox News for trademark infringement, ---remember the states report, and you decide.

According to the folks at Garden State Equality, one of the problems is that: “New Jersey has not updated its hate crimes law in years. The law was one of the first of its kind in America. But like all pioneering laws, laws in other states have passed New Jersey's in strength and scope. New Jersey's current hate crimes law does not even encompass gender identity or expression.”

Garden State Equality and the New Jersey Anti-Defamation League have worked with legislators and the Attorney General's office to help craft a bill to strengthen the state hate crimes law. The bill adds "gender identity or expression" to our hate crimes law, and strengthens the law in several ways for people of color, for women, etc.

A Tale of Two New Jersey Cities

Camden and Brick:

According to www.mapquest.com, they are a total of 63.35 miles apart ---just a touch under 1 hour, 26 minutes of drive time, without normal New Jersey traffic. Both are near a body of water---Camden is on the Delaware River; Brick on the Atlantic Ocean. They both have populations of about 80,000.

They are both at extreme ends of the state: Brick is in eastern New Jersey; Camden is in western New Jersey. That is where the similarities end.

Recently they both made it in to the top ten of the “City Crime Rankings” published by CQ Press, a division of Congressional Quarterly. This is a listing of the Most Dangerous and Safest cities in the country. Camden is number 5 on the Most Dangerous list and Brick is number 3 on the Safest cities list.

The criteria used for determining city rankings include FBI gathered per-capita rates for homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, and automobile theft. Weight is given to each crime based on its seriousness.

Camden Mayor Gwendolyn Faison had no comment about the report. Brick Mayor Stephen Acroplois said, “You can make statistics say anything. When we got the number one ranking [in New Jersey] that was great, but I am not a big guy on statistics.”

Apparently, neither is the FBI: they posted a statement on their website criticizing the use of statistics for such “lists”. Go figure.