01 Jul California Hate Crimes Down Slightly From 2022, Attorney General Reports

California Attorney General Rob Bonta spoke at Fresno City College on April 6, 2024, for the United Against Hate Summit. (Jazmin Alvarado Villegas for The CC Pulse)

By Riley Cooke
Bay City News

The number of reported hate crimes in California decreased slightly from 2022 to 2023, but those against Jewish, Muslim and LGBTQ+ people rose over the same period, according to the annual hate crime report from California Attorney General Rob Bonta.

The number of hate crimes referred for prosecution — about a third of total reported hate crimes — also rose slightly from 2022 to 2023. For hate crimes targeting the LGBTQ+ community at large, there was an 86.4% increase — nearly double from 2022.
Equality California, a statewide LGBTQ+ civil rights organization, blamed anti-LGBTQ+ legislation and rhetoric at home and across the country for the spike in violence and harassment.

“These statistics aren’t a surprise. Hate does not happen in a vacuum,” said Equality California Executive Director Tony Hoang.

Meanwhile, anti-Jewish hate crime events increased by 52.9% and anti-Islamic events increased by 60%.

Hate crimes based on race — including anti-Black, anti-Hispanic or Latino, anti-white and anti-Asian events — decreased across every racial group from 2022 to 2023.

“While it is heartening to see an overall decrease in hate crimes in 2023, some of our communities, including our LGBTQ+, Jewish and Muslim communities, continue to be targeted and endangered by hate at alarming rates,” Bonta said in a statement.
Bonta added that hate crimes are historically underreported, and that dozens of police agencies throughout the state failed to report the full year of hate crime data due to system management errors or staffing shortages.

In the Bay Area, the police departments in Morgan Hill, San Jose and Santa Cruz, as well as the sheriff’s department in Solano County, made the list for incomplete data.

The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Department and the Lodi police in San Joaquin County also failed to report in full.

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