Houston hate incidents saw 193% spike in 2023, preliminary report says

But one of the authors behind the study cautioned the numbers have historically differed from the number of hate crimes Houston police officials report. The study found 85 hate incidents in 2023, compared to 30 in 2022 from the Texas Department of Public Safety’s crime reporting database, according to Brian Levin, the director emeritus of the nonpartisan research center out of California State University at San Bernardino. 

Police investigators have said the majority of cases referred to in the study end up categorized as hate incidents, rather than crimes. Incidents, such as use of slurs, don’t necessarily consist of a criminal act.

Victor Senties, a Houston Police Department spokesman, said administrators won’t have updated hate crime numbers for 2023 until either later in January or February. The department’s 2022 report, however, shows investigators received 36 reports of hate crimes.

The number of incidents could change, depending on police and DPS findings. In 2022, the Texas Department of Public Safety revised its 2022 Houston numbers from 65 to 30 reported hate incidents.

The Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism’s latest report examined reported hate incidents in some of the country’s largest cities, determining that while Houston led the pack, most surveyed saw an uptick between 2022 and 2023. Those surveyed averaged an 11% increase, with New York, San Antonio and Philadelphia the few reporting decreases.

A Chronicle analysis of data from the Texas Department of Public Safety showed an uptick in reported hate incidents against multiple groups between 2022 and 2023, led by an increase in crimes reported against Jewish residents from one to 10. Reported hate incidents…