from the National Coalition for the Homeless documented 27 unprovoked , apparently bias-related homicides by attackers in the United States last year , down one from the previous year and the second-highest number of killings since 2001 . After bottoming mid-decade , the number killed has not dipped below 20 a year since 2005 . In contrast , the FBI documented only 12 hate-crime homicides nationally for the two most recently available calendar years combined . According to the NCH and the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism , nearly 2 1/2 times more homeless people in America have been killed over the past 10 years in apparent unprovoked bias homicides than the total for all the other hate - crime homicides -- on the basis of race , religion , national origin , disability and sexual orientation -- combined . Like other hate crime perpetrators , these attackers are typically young male `` thrill offenders '' seeking excitement , with 58 percent of assailants over the past 10 years falling in the 13-19 age range . In 2006 , three teenagers out for fun attacked homeless people in Fort Lauderdale , Florida , with baseball bats ,
Editor 's note : Brian Levin is a professor of criminal justice at California State University , San Bernardino and director of the university 's Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism . Michael Stoops is executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless in Washington . Brian Levin says the homeless are excluded from lessons on tolerance and are n't protected by hate crime laws . CAMBRIDGE , Massachusetts -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Over the last two calendar years , more Americans in the United States were killed in a little-noticed spate of unprovoked attacks than were killed by terrorists , in large commercial jet crashes or in racial hate crimes . Since 1999 , more than 240 vulnerable homeless Americans have been stabbed , beaten , drowned , shot or burned to death in a revolting display of one of the last socially tolerated prejudices , this one based on class . Despite being prime targets of prejudice and violence , particularly in today 's youth subculture , the homeless are routinely excluded from lessons related to tolerance , as well as from official data collection and hate-crime penalty enhancement laws . A newly released report