Slaying of Palestinian boy in Chicago area highlights lacking data on hate crimes, advocates say
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A community vigil will be held Tuesday evening for Wadee Alfayoumi, a 6-year-old Palestinian American boy who authorities say was stabbed to death by his landlord, allegedly because he was Muslim.
Community groups are asking how to avoid another such tragedy. CBS 2's Megan Hickey looked into how a lack of data might be holding up that process.
It was a horrific murder police and prosecutors say was fueled by hate.
"I'm furious that this incident occurred, that there is a child who is dead and a mother clinging to her life, for no other reason other than that they are Muslim," said David Goldenberg, Midwest Regional Director for the Anti-Defamation League.
Goldenberg said, sadly, Wadee's stabbing death did not shock him.
"When we think about these types of attacks, and we see what is occurring on the streets of our city, in the halls of our city council, and on the screens of our television, no one – unfortunately – should be surprised that someone has been indoctrinated, and driven to this type of hateful act," he said.
One of the ADL's recommendations at the state level is mandating reporting of hate crimes to the FBI, but last year, just 520 of 925 participating law enforcement agencies in Illinois sent the bureau numbers.
On Monday, the FBI released its most recent hate crimes data for 2022, but far from every police department actually submitted data. In Illinois, only 56% of police departments reported hate crimes to the FBI – or 56%.
According to the nonprofit newsroom The Marshall Project, which covers the criminal justice system, roughly 42 states and the District of Columbia had higher reporting rates than Illinois last year.
"Especially when something like what happened this Saturday is taking place – you have a nation's attention on hate crime – it really is frustrating," said Marshall Project data reporter Weihua Li, who has studied hate crime data extensively.
Li said the lack of reporting is a problem because without comprehensive data, policymakers will lack the critical information needed to address these concerning trends — and horrific scenes like Wadee's murder.
The largest jurisdiction not to report was the Aurora Police Department, which covers a population of nearly 200,000 people. But Aurora police said that occurred because the FBI didn't accept data submitted using a different reporting system that the state requires. According to Aurora police data, three hate crimes were recorded in 2022.
Chicago police did report numbers in 2022, after not reporting full numbers in 2021. Oddly enough, the FBI stats don't match what CPD reported on its own hate crime dashboard where there are about 60 more cases listed.
"With any police departments missing from the data, it means that stories in their communities are not going to be told in the national picture; that for criminologists, policy makers who use this data for analysis for policy making, it will be always be missing context," Li said.
