"But was it collected directly by them (or another federal agency) or is it based on states' reporting of crimes that meet their own statutory definition. As Doug says in a reply elsewhere, a good portion of the difference is probably due to people in NJ being more likely than in AL to report a hate crime, but there are variations in what legally constitutes a hate crime too. Gay bashing probably is in NJ but may not be in AL, for example."
Right. The FBI data people are off today. I'll ask. But, preliminarily, my understanding is that, partially at least, the stats come from local (participating) law-enforcement agencies. Now, I think that the classification refers to *federal* civil rights laws, not to (more or less strict) state or local regulations. But, yes, each agency may have different policies regarding enforcement, data collection, and reporting.
Thanks to all who responded.