BOSTON – Jews in this state have been the victims of anti-Semitic attacks 35 percent more often than they were in 2003. However, the number of these incidents that have been investigated and prosecuted as hate crimes has dropped to an all-time low, according to crime reports obtained by the Advocate.

Local police departments filed 58 incident reports in which Jews were subjected to possible hate crimes in 2004 – a victimization rate 35 percent higher than the rate in 2003, making Jews, after blacks, the most frequently victimized minority group in Massachusetts, data collected by the state Executive Office of Public Safety show. At the same time, the State Police office received the smallest number of hate-crime incident reports from police departments from around the state in the last five years. Additionally, Boston’s nationally acclaimed Community Disorders Unit in 2004 investigated fewer hate crime cases than it has since 1995, the first year for which records were available.

For detectives, prosecutors and officials at the Anti-Defamation League contacted by the Advocate, the fact that anti-Semitic incidents have rarely resulted in hate crime charges, let alone verdicts, against perpetrators reflects the complex nature of proving hate crimes in court...