One in three Harris County, Texas residents face victimization: Report

New research from Rice University’s Kinder Institute for Urban Research finds that nearly 50% of Harris County residents said they have been a victim of a crime or legal incident at some point in their lifetime, and one in three individuals in the county feel they were targeted due to their race, ethnicity, gender or other protected class. However, most of these individuals said they never reported these cases to the police.

The report was released today, offering for the first time a snapshot of Houstonians’ lifetime experiences with crime. Among the individuals reporting a crime or incident that they felt was motivated by bias or prejudice toward a protected class, 22% said they believed race was the motivating factor, 19% thought skin color was the reason, and 18% believed their sex or gender was why they were targeted.

Among nearly half of the population who were victims of crime or a related incident, they most commonly reported verbal abuse (30%), harassment or other intimidating behavior (30%) and property damage (24%).

While 73% of those who experienced a bias-motivated crime or incident reported it to someone, only 31% reported it to police, and 27% didn’t report the incident at all. The most frequently cited reason for not reporting a bias-motivated crime or incident to anyone was the belief that nothing would be done (66%). The second most common explanation from respondents was their lack of trust in the police (24%).

Daniel Potter, director of the Kinder Institute’s Houston Population Research Center and the report’s lead researcher, said the findings have important implications when it comes to supporting victims of crime in Houston and Harris County. (The Houston Police Department and Harris County have information online instructing what to do if you think you have been the victim of a hate crime.)

“Crime has been a persistent concern in Harris County, especially those motivated by race, skin color and sex or gender,” Potter said. “Many of the individuals we surveyed are sharing the incident details with friends and family, but friends and family may not have the resources or training to help them properly respond.”

In the survey, “crimes” were defined as threats with the intention to cause pain, injury or damage; physical assault; or damage to property. “Incidents” were defined as harassment or abusive, annoying or intimidating behavior; verbal abuse; or online abuse or cyberbullying. The survey did not ask when the crime or incident occurred. The findings were collected in summer 2023 as part of a larger survey from the Greater Houston Community Panel.

Potter noted that underreporting of crime is a national concern. In 2022, 32% of property crime and 42% of violent crime were reported to police, suggesting that the majority of criminal acts are never reported, according to surveys conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice. When it comes to hate crimes, federal estimates suggest only 1 in 31 incidents are actually reported to authorities.

Between 2018 and 2023, the Houston Police Department reported an average of about 39 hate crimes per year in its 2023 Annual Hate Crime Report. According to data from the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program, from 2019 to 2022 the Harris County Sheriff’s Office reported an average of about 15 hate crimes each year. And last year, The Texas Tribune found that 82% of law enforcement agencies in the state reported not a single hate crime that year—a fact attributed to underreporting, lack of awareness and other factors.