Finally... They Spot a Hate Crime

The US Department of Justice has come out with a new list of the hate crimes committed in Oregon in 2007, and guess what? If you thought I was going to say there were none committed against people with disabilities, you’re wrong. In fact, one hate crime was “committed” against a person with a disability in Portland in 2007. One? Yup, that’s it.

I suppose one prosecution is better than none, which has been the case here for the previous three years. And I understand that hate crimes are hard to prove, but it can be done. I hope that soon the police, prosecutors, and judges will be trained on how to pursue hate crime charges on behalf of people with disabilities. Until that happens, you can believe that crimes will continue to be committed against these human beings, with little consequence to the criminals.

Number of incidents per bias motivation

		Race	Religion	Sexual orientation	Ethnicity	Disability
Total		77	28	37	27	1
Cities		67	20	34	24	1
	Albany	1	0	0	0	0
	Ashland	0	0	1	0	0
	Beaverton	6	1	0	3	0
	Bend	0	0	2	0	0
	Boardman	0	0	1	0	0
	Canby	0	1	0	0	0
	Corvallis	2	0	0	2	0
	Eagle Point	1	0	0	0	0
	Grants Pass	1	0	0	0	0
	Hermiston	1	0	0	0	0
	Keizer	1	1	0	0	0
	La Grande	0	0	0	1	0
	Lincoln City	0	0	0	1	0
	Medford	3	0	0	0	0
	Newberg-Dundee	1	0	0	0	0
	Newport	3	0	0	1	0
	Portland	20	11	22	9	1
	Redmond	2	0	0	0	0
	Rogue River	0	1	0	0	0
	Roseburg	0	0	1	0	0
	Salem	2	0	3	3	0
	Seaside	0	0	0	1	0
	Silverton	0	0	1	0	0
	Springfield	4	0	2	2	0
	Stayton	1	0	0	0	0
	Tigard	16	5	0	0	0
	Tillamook	0	0	0	1	0
	Woodburn	2	0	1	0	0
Counties		6	5	1	3	0
	Benton	1	1	1	0	0
	Clackamas	2	1	0	0	0
	Deschutes	0	0	0	1	0
	Jackson	1	1	0	0	0
	Lane	1	1	0	1	0
	Marion	0	1	0	1	0
	Yamhill	1	0	0	0	0
	Douglas	1	1	1	0	0
	Lincoln	1	2	0	0	0
	Tillamook	0	0	1	0	0
	Umatilla	1	0	0	0	0
State Police Agencies		1	0	0	0	0
	State Police, Washington County	1	0	0	0	0