As statewide hate crimes hit record levels, Monroe, Pike, Wayne, Carbon, Lackawanna, Luzerne, and Schuylkill counties lack clear picture of local incidents

NORTHEASTERN PENNSYLVANIA — Pennsylvania is experiencing what state officials call an unprecedented surge in hate crimes, with antisemitism, Islamophobia, anti-Asian hate, and LGBTQ+ bias incidents all reaching record levels statewide. But residents of the seven-county Pocono region have no clear way to know whether Monroe, Pike, Wayne, Carbon, Lackawanna, Luzerne, and Schuylkill counties mirror these disturbing trends—or face even worse problems.

The Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission’s 2024 “No Hate in Our State” report documents the crisis at the state level. “Antisemitism, Islamophobia, AAPI hate, LGBTQ+ hate and more are all at record levels,” said PHRC Chair Joel Bolstein. Pennsylvania State Police data shows hate crimes more than doubled between 2020 and 2021, jumping from 142 incidents to 284—the highest annual total ever recorded. Yet drilling down to county-level data for the Pocono region proves nearly impossible due to systemic reporting failures that leave communities flying blind.

The Data Black Hole

Most Pennsylvania counties don’t report their hate crimes to state police at all. When one news organization requested detailed hate crime data to analyze local patterns, state police demanded $6,000 for staff time to access their own database, then claimed only a third-party vendor could retrieve the information. This means residents of Stroudsburg, Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Jim Thorpe, Milford, and Honesdale have virtually no visibility into hate crime trends in their own communities. Court records show very few hate crime charges result in convictions under Pennsylvania’s “ethnic intimidation” law, suggesting either chronic undercharging by district attorneys or cases being prosecuted as simple assaults without the bias enhancement.

Without publicly accessible county-by-county breakdowns, it’s impossible to say whether Monroe County—the most diverse in the Pocono region—experiences more hate crimes than rural Pike County, or whether Lackawanna County’s urban Scranton sees different patterns than Carbon County’s smaller municipalities. The Pennsylvania Uniform Crime Reporting system collects hate crime data from over 1,000 contributing agencies, but the aggregated nature of public reports obscures local realities. Residents concerned about safety in their specific communities are left to rely on anecdotal evidence, local news reports of individual incidents, and gut feelings rather than hard data.

What We Know From Federal Cases

While county-level statistics remain hidden, federal prosecutions provide glimpses into hate crime patterns affecting northeastern Pennsylvania. In Carbon County’s Lehighton, federal authorities charged a man with internet threats after he allegedly posted content calling for genocide and hate crimes against Jews, Black people, and Muslims. According to the indictment, on March 13, 2019—just five months after the Tree of Life Synagogue massacre in Pittsburgh killed eleven people—he posted a digitally altered image showing himself aiming an AR-15 rifle at Jewish men praying in a synagogue. The post came from a user who had expressed desires to commit genocide in multiple online forums.

This case represents one of the few documented hate crime incidents in the core Pocono region that reached federal prosecution. The defendant faced a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment for each violation of federal law prohibiting threats. However, the outcome of this case and whether it resulted in conviction is not included in easily accessible public records, illustrating another gap in transparency around hate crime enforcement.

Beyond this Lehighton case, publicly available records do not identify other specific hate crime prosecutions originating in Monroe, Pike, Wayne, Carbon, Lackawanna, Luzerne, or Schuylkill counties in recent years. This absence could mean several things: hate crimes aren’t occurring at high rates in the region, they’re occurring but not being reported, they’re being reported but prosecuted as non-bias crimes, or they’re handled at the local level without state or federal involvement that would generate public records.

Statewide Context

What is clear is that hate crimes are happening elsewhere in Pennsylvania with shocking brutality. Two healthcare workers at a Pennsylvania facility—location not specified in public documents—received federal sentences of 10 and 17 years respectively for systematic torture of disabled residents. The men texted each other about their hatred of residents with severe intellectual and physical disabilities, then punched, kicked, and jumped on victims while spraying hand sanitizer and mouthwash into their eyes and mouths. They filmed the attacks. Many victims were non-verbal and unable to report the abuse. While this case did not occur in the Pocono region, it raises questions about whether similar abuse could be happening undetected in NEPA’s healthcare facilities, nursing homes, and group homes.

Pittsburgh has seen multiple prosecutions for antisemitic vandalism of Jewish properties and threats against the Tree of Life Synagogue’s former executive director. A California woman was sentenced to federal prison for making repeated antisemitic death threats by phone. These cases demonstrate that Pennsylvania’s hate crime problem extends beyond property damage to targeted campaigns of intimidation and violence. Whether similar patterns exist in the Pocono region’s Jewish communities—including synagogues in Stroudsburg, Scranton, and elsewhere—cannot be determined from available public data.

Community Vulnerabilities

The Pocono region has experienced significant demographic changes that could create conditions for bias incidents. Monroe County, particularly the Stroudsburg and East Stroudsburg area, has seen an influx of residents from New York and New Jersey, bringing increased racial, ethnic, and religious diversity. Lackawanna and Luzerne counties host growing immigrant and refugee populations in Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, and Hazleton. Pike County serves as a bedroom community for New York City workers, with Milford and surrounding areas becoming more diverse.

These demographic shifts don’t automatically generate hate crimes, but research shows that rapid diversification of previously homogeneous communities can create friction. Without data, it’s impossible to know whether Monroe County’s increasing diversity has led to more bias incidents, or whether longtime residents and newcomers have integrated peacefully. We don’t know if LGBTQ+ individuals in rural Wayne County face different risks than those in urban Scranton. We can’t assess whether Muslim residents in Lackawanna County report different experiences than those in Carbon County.

What Qualifies as Hate Crime

Pennsylvania law defines hate crimes as offenses motivated by bias based on race, color, religion, or national origin—what state law calls “ethnic intimidation.” This means an assault, vandalism, or harassment becomes a more serious crime if prosecutors can prove bias motivation. Federal law provides broader protections, including gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, and disability. According to FBI statistics, the most common hate crime categories nationally are race/ethnicity/ancestry (59.1%), LGBTQ+ (21.2%), and religion (17.3%). Whether the Pocono region reflects these national patterns is unknown.

The Pennsylvania State Police Heritage Affairs Section is specifically dedicated to assisting local law enforcement with hate crime prevention and investigation. However, primary jurisdiction over most criminal matters lies with local police departments and county district attorneys in Monroe, Pike, Wayne, Carbon, Lackawanna, Luzerne, and Schuylkill counties. The Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission can investigate civil discrimination but has no authority over criminal hate crimes, creating a fragmented enforcement system.

The Reality Check

Here’s what we can say with confidence: Pennsylvania as a whole is experiencing record levels of hate crimes. The trend is real and documented at the state level. Federal prosecutors are actively pursuing cases involving antisemitic threats, violence against disabled individuals, and other bias-motivated crimes. The tracking system is deeply flawed, with most counties failing to report data and the information that exists being difficult to access or analyze.

What we cannot say: whether Monroe County has more hate crimes than Pike County, whether incidents are increasing or decreasing in any specific Pocono community, which types of bias crimes are most common in NEPA, whether certain towns or neighborhoods face higher risks, or how local prosecution rates compare to state averages. The absence of this information doesn’t mean hate crimes aren’t happening in the Poconos—it means we have no way of knowing.

Where to Report

Residents who experience or witness hate crimes should call 911 for emergencies. Non-emergency hate crimes should be reported to local police—including Pocono Township Police, Stroudsburg Borough Police, East Stroudsburg Police, Scranton Police, Wilkes-Barre Police, Jim Thorpe Police, Milford Borough Police, and others serving the seven-county region. These departments can coordinate with Pennsylvania State Police Heritage Affairs Section and, when appropriate, the FBI.

The Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission accepts discrimination complaints at 717-787-4410, though it cannot prosecute criminal hate crimes. The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Civil Rights Enforcement Section can seek civil injunctions in appropriate cases. Federal authorities can be contacted through local FBI field offices.

The Bottom Line

PHRC Executive Director Chad Dion Lassiter offered this perspective: “The only thing we can do to end discrimination and hate is to open a seat at the table of our Beloved Community to everyone. When we can see a person’s humanity, see what truly ails them, we can begin a process of healing and work to build a culture of peace and understanding despite our differences.”

Noble words, but implementation requires information. As Pennsylvania grapples with record hate crime levels statewide, the seven counties of the Pocono region remain unable to assess their own situations with any precision. Residents don’t know if their communities are safe havens or hotspots. Local officials can’t allocate resources based on actual need. Vulnerable populations can’t make informed decisions about where to live, work, or worship.

The data vacuum itself represents a failure—not of communities trying to address hate, but of systems designed to track and combat it. Until Pennsylvania fixes its broken reporting structure and makes county-level data transparent and accessible, Monroe, Pike, Wayne, Carbon, Lackawanna, Luzerne, and Schuylkill counties will continue operating in the dark, unable to distinguish isolated incidents from dangerous patterns demanding urgent intervention.