Hate crimes

Brickbat: It's Not Adding Up

Charles Oliver | 3.19.2026 4:00 AM

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(Steve Sanchez/Sipa USA/Newscom)

Following a 152-percent spike in hate crimes, the New York City Police Department (NYPD) changed its system for reporting them. The NYPD reported 58 such crimes in January, up from 23 in January 2025. Both totals included cases that were still being investigated, but in February, the department changed its methodology to report only incidents that have already been investigated and confirmed as hate crimes. Police reported 38 hate crimes but did not say how that compared to February 2025. Officials say this change will make the numbers more accurate and prevent confusion, but some experts and advocates worry the new method makes the data less transparent because the public can no longer see how many possible hate crimes are still being reviewed. Critics say this could make it harder to understand the true scale of the problem and track trends over time.

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Charles Oliver is a contributing editor at Reason.

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