Reports of hateful acts committed against Oregonians because of their religion last year rose the most out of all categories reported to the state’s Bias Response Hotline.

And within that category, Jewish and Muslim Oregonians were the most often targeted, as both Jews and Muslims in Oregon and across the U.S. say they’ve experienced increased hostility since the start of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7.

The surge in religion-based hate is according to the Criminal Justice Commission’s annual “Bias Crimes Report” released Monday and based on nearly 3,000 calls to the state’s Bias Response Hotline in 2023. Call volumes to the hotline increased 16% from 2022 to 2023, and overall calls have grown three-fold since the hotline’s inception in 2020.

Among the report’s findings:

• Religion-based hate crimes and hate incidents jumped 128% from 2022 to 2023, to 572 calls last year. Overall, since the hotline’s inception in 2020, they’ve increased nearly nine-fold.
• Reports specifically documenting anti-Muslim crimes and hate incidents jumped 263% from 2022 to 2023. Since 2020, they’ve increased nearly seven-fold, to 100 reports in 2023.
• Anti-Jewish reports increased 144% from 2022 to 2023. Overall, there has been a 12-fold increase from 2020 to 2023, when more than 450 such reports were made to the hotline.
• Reports of hateful acts against people based on their gender identity increased 56% from 2022 to 2023. The hotline has seen a 13-fold increase in these reports since 2020, to nearly 600 reports in 2023.
• Reports of hateful acts against people because of their sexual orientation were up 28% from 2022 to 2023. Since 2020, reports have increased seven-fold, to about 650 in 2023.
• The number of Oregonians reporting being targeted because of their race decreased slightly from 2022 to 2023, down 7%. Reports of hate directed at Black people remained virtually unchanged — at just over 600 calls last year. And Black Oregonians have remained the most targeted racial or ethnic group across all races since the state started tracking numbers four years ago. They are followed, in order, by people of Latino, Asian and Arab descent.

In a news release Monday, Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum voiced her support for the hotline and its continued efforts at tracking hate, as directed and first funded by the 2019 Oregon Legislature.

“Acts of bias and hatred are cruel and cowardly, and they deny people the dignity of safety and belonging every Oregonian deserves,” Rosenblum said.

In 2023, The Oregonian/OregonLive published a series about lapses in the criminal justice system that result in underreporting and under-prosecution of hate crimes — including hundreds that go unprosecuted each year, problems pursuing cases in Multnomah County, a defendant who slipped through the cracks, quirks in Oregon’s hate crimes law and sentences that most often result in probation not prison.

Monday, the Criminal Justice Commission’s report found that Oregonians who believe they’ve been targeted with a hate crime are more likely than not to seek the help of police.

In reaching that conclusion, state officials compared the number of people who called the state’s hotline to the numbers who reported to police across the state. They found fewer than half of the people who called the confidential hotline, which acts as a support system and doesn’t relay its database of callers to police, went on to contact law enforcement.

“We know most people don’t tell anyone—oftentimes including law enforcement—about their hate and bias experiences, so it is critical we continue to invest in and support our front-line advocates providing crucial services to Oregonians throughout the state on the Hotline,” Rosenblum said.

To try to combat underreporting, the state earlier this year launched a “You Belong” social media campaign that is directed at all victims and encourages them not to stay silent after they’ve been targeted.

The state’s Bias Response Hotline can be reached at 1-844-924-BIAS (2427).

The state’s full report can be read here.

— Aimee Green covers breaking news and the justice system. Reach her at 503-294-5119, agreen@oregonian.com or @o_aimee.

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