Steve Dillard over at Southern Appeal has a very interesting post up detailing data that show there are significantly more hate crimes perpetrated in northern states as compared to southern states. Off the cuff, this is a bit surprising, but the numbers are unambiguous. There are probably some very complex trends behind this. The only casual comment I can provide is that some of the northern states mentioned have very high immigrant populations (Michigan, etc.), although I have no idea how the populations compare to the northern states with lower hate crime rates or to southern states in general. Oh–and, the South may have a bit of a bad rap on this one.