Hate finds a home in state
In Maryland, reports of crimes fueled by bias have increased
Reports of hate crimes and other hate incidents have risen sharply in Maryland over the past several years.
Students at Crofton Middle School find a noose hanging in the courtyard.
In Montgomery County, a 13-year-old Jewish girl receives several anti-Semitic texts. They say, in part, “JNTD” — an acronym for Jews Need to Die.
A gay man at Baltimore’s Gilmor Homes is beaten by a man yelling homophobic slurs.
Army 2nd Lt. Richard Collins III, a black college student from Calvert County, is confronted and stabbed to death on the University of Maryland campus, allegedly by a white student from Severn who was a member of a racist Facebook group.
Reports of hate are on the rise in Maryland.
Maryland law enforcement agencies received 398 reports of hate or bias last year — alleged incidents that ranged from vandalism and intimidation to threats and attacks, according to the State Police and hundreds of pages of records reviewed by The Baltimore Sun after a public information request. The reported incidents represented an increase of 35 percent from 2016 — and a pace of more than one report a day.
Authorities couldn’t confirm all those reports, and concluded that a handful were unfounded. But many experts believe the reports don’t begin to capture all the incidents.
The state’s experience echoes a national increase in reported hate crimes, reversing a long, gradual decline. Maryland broadly See HATE, page 18