Hate crimes in Washington jump 27 percent in a year

Major crimes reported in Washington dropped 5.8 percent between 2007 and 2008, but hate crimes jumped nearly 27 percent, according to preliminary statistics released Monday by the Washington State Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs.

Other statistics released by the association on Monday:

• The rate for solving the crimes was 17.2 percent, a decrease of 5.5 percent.

• The 2008 major-crime rate per 1,000 population was 40.2, a 7.2 percent decrease.

• Violent crime — murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault — decreased by 1 percent. Murders were up by 7.9 percent, robberies by 3.1 percent and rapes by 0.5 percent, but the overall drop reflected a 3.4 decrease in aggravated assaults, which are more common.

• Property crime — burglary, larceny theft, motor-vehicle theft and arson — decreased 6.2 percent. Motor-vehicle thefts showed the most prominent change, down by 24.9 percent.

Hate crimes amounted to 235 incidents involving 318 criminal offenses in 2008, as reported by 265 law-enforcement agencies in the state. That was a 26.7 percent increase in offenses over 2007.

It wasn't immediately clear what contributed to the increase, but when the FBI reported last year that hate crimes in Washington state had increased in 2007 from 2006, a King County prosecutor who is an expert on hate crimes said that increased reporting of such crimes might be contributing to the higher numbers.

Dan Donohoe, spokesman for the King County Prosecutor's Office, said Monday that awareness and better reporting continue to be factors in the higher number of hate crimes.

Malicious harassment is the state's hate-crime charge, and in such crimes the victims are targeted specifically because of their gender, race, religion, sexual orientation or disability.

Domestic violence, including simple assault and cases involving protection and no-contact orders, was down 11.7 percent, with 42,500 domestic-violence offenses reported in 2008 by 241 law-enforcement agencies.

The statistics are compiled by the sheriffs and chiefs association from the vast majority of state law-enforcement agencies, then provided to the FBI for national crime reporting, said Joan Smith, the association's support manager for criminal-justice information.

Information from Seattle Times archives is included in this report.

Steve Miletich: 206-464-3302 or smiletich@seattletimes.com