NEW YORK, NY July 02, 2009 —A new report says the number of hate crimes in New York City has decreased, but the severity of the violence has worsened. The New York Anti-Violence Project says it based the report on FBI statistics, and found there were five murders against members of the LGBT community in the city in 2008, up from three the year before. New York Assemblyman Micah Kellner, a member of the LGBT community himself, says he wants to see harsher punishment for people who commit hate crimes.

KELLNER: We need to make sure that people understand that if they decide to do a crime based on hate, based on who a person is, that they are going to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

The Hate Violence Report says while the number of anti-LGBT crimes is down, the severity of the crimes has increased, with more of them ending in murder.

The report also says 17 percent of all reported murders of LGBT people last year, occurred in the city.