HATE CRIMES IN CALIFORNIA

While it may appear from the news that the number of Hate Crime events are on the rise, the evidence is actually to the contrary.  The following information was taken from the "Hate Crime in California 2019" Report (the most current year for which data is available,) as published by the state DOJ.  

Local law enforcement agencies are required to report hate crimes to the Department of Justice (DOJ) in compliance with California Penal Code Section 13023. California Penal Code Section 422.55 defines a hate crime as “a criminal act committed, in whole or in part, because of one or more of the following actual or perceived characteristics of the victim: (1) disability, (2) gender, (3) nationality, (4) race or ethnicity, (5) religion, (6) sexual orientation, (7) association with a person or group with one or more of these actual or perceived characteristics.”

Overall Crime Data Summary

• The number of hate crime events have fluctuated over the last decade. In the last 10 years, hate crime events have decreased by 8.3 percent with 1107 reported in 2010 and 1015 reported in 2019.
  • Of note, the lowest year for reported hate crime events was 2014 with 758 events. 
• Hate crime events decreased 4.8 percent from 1,066 in 2018 to 1,015 in 2019. 
• The number of victims of reported hate crimes increased 0.8 percent from 1,237 in 2018 to 1,247 in 2019. 
• The number of suspects of reported hate crimes decreased 11.5 percent from 1,093 in 2018 to 967 in 2019 (Table 15). 

 
Hate Crime in California 

• Hate crime events involving a racial bias overall decreased 12.0 percent from 594 in 2018 to 523 in 2019. 
  • Anti-black or African American bias events fell from 276 in 2018 to 243 in 2019, a decrease of 12.0 percent. 
  • Anti-Hispanic or Latino bias events fell from 149 in 2018 to 110 in 2019, a decrease of 26.2 percent. 
• Hate crime events involving a religion bias increased 3.5 percent from 201 in 2018 to 208 in 2019. 
  • Anti-Jewish bias events rose from 126 in 2018 to 141 in 2019, an increase of 11.9 percent.
  • Anti-Islamic (Muslim) bias events fell from 28 in 2018 to 25 in 2019. 
• Hate crime events involving a sexual orientation bias decreased 2.1 percent from 238 in 2018 to 233 in 2019. 
  • Bias events against gay men or men perceived to be gay rose from 169 in 2018 to 172 in 2019, an increase of 1.8 percent. 
  • Events involving sexual orientation bias generally fell from 41 in 2018 to 35 in 2019. 
• Hate crime offenses decreased 0.6 percent from 1,268 in 2018 to 1,261 in 2019 (Table 12).
  • Violent crime offenses increased 3.1 percent from 838 in 2018 to 864 in 2019 (Table 13).
  • Property crime offenses decreased 8.5 percent from 426 in 2018 to 390 in 2019 (Table 13). 

Prosecutorial Data 
Of the 392 hate crimes that were referred for prosecution, only 288 cases were filed by district attorneys and elected city attorneys for prosecution. Of the 288 cases that were filed for prosecution, 200 were filed as hate crimes and 88 were filed as non-bias motivated crimes. 
Of the 166 cases with a disposition available for this report:

• 49.4 percent (82) were hate crime convictions;
• 44.6 percent (74) were other convictions; and
• 6.0 percent (10) were not convicted (Table 7B). 

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