Hate crime incidents in the United States rose last year by nearly 8%, the FBI reported today. Police across the nation reported 7,722 criminal incidents in 2006 targeting victims or property as a result of bias orientation. That was up 7.8% from the 7,163 incidents reported in 2005. Only 12,600 of the nation’s more than 17,000 local, county, state and federal police agencies participated in the hate crime reporting program in 2006.

(Source: Associated Press)