The FBI says hate crimes reported to police declined in 1994, with the number of murders dropping from 20 to 13.
The bureau said Monday that 5,852 hate-crime incidents were reported during 1994, compared with 7,684 incidents in 1993. But officials cautioned against precise year-to-year comparisons because not all the police departments that reported in 1993 did so again in 1994.In addition, although slightly more departments reported in 1994, they still covered only 58 percent of the U.S. population.
A 1990 law requires the FBI to compile the annual report but merely encourages local police agencies to volunteer hate-crime data to the bureau.