Hate crimes incidents occur nationally between 6,000 and 8,000 times annually, and many be increased by traumatic national events. Hate crime rates spiked in 2001, but have steadily decreased since then, though hate crimes between religious groups have increased slightly. Most offenders are young and act more out of personal sentiment than organizational strategy, which may be why hate crimes in Pennsylvania are mainly centered around the two big cities of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. Nationally hate crimes occur across the board and affect all races and most demographics, however in Lycoming county at least hate crimes do not appear to pose a significant reported problem.

Hate Crimes

Within the last decades, criminal law has delineated a new subset of crime: the hate crime. Hate crimes are defined as any crime "committed against individuals or groups or property based on the real or perceived race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, national...
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