The growing feeling of stoked racial fires across the country has been crystalized locally with a damning new report.
This past week, the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations released its annual report on hate crimes, focusing on those reported throughout LA County in 2023. The amount of reported hate crimes skyrocketed from 930 in 2022 to 1,350 in 2023, the highest number in the history of the report dating back to 1980.
The previous high water mark was 1,031 hate crimes reported in 2001, due in part to the September 11th attacks. According to California state law, hate crime charges may be filed when “there is evidence that biased based on the victim’s actual or perceived race, ethnicity or ancestry; religion; nationality; disability; gender; or sexual orientation; or association with a person or group with or perceived to have one or more of these characteristics” is a “substantial factor in motivation for crime.”
Two particular spikes were in anti-transgender and religious crimes, with the former increasing 125%, with 97% of the crimes being violent. Religious crimes spiked 90%, including the largest amount of anti-Jewish crimes (242) ever recorded.
The report noted that while 72% of sexual orientation-motivated hate crimes occurred in the City of Los Angeles, there was also a cluster of such crimes in Santa Monica, including an incident on April 15. In that incident, a lesbian Latina couple were victims of a suspect attempting to pull down one of the victim’s pants while yelling “she’s not a man.” Another occasion saw the suspect stealing money from both victims.
Similarly, the majority (77%) of reported religious crimes took place in Los Angeles proper, but Santa Monica was noted as a “small cluster” area alongside Beverly Hills, Burbank, Long Beach and West Hollywood. One such incident occurred on Feb. 20, 2023 when a suspect made anti-Jewish comments and attempted to steal a victim’s tip money. When the victim moved tip money away from the suspect, the suspect brandished a stun gun, threatening to shoot the victim.
Santa Monica Police Department records show seven recorded hate crimes from January through September 2023, with 11 victims of crimes ranging from Anti-Jewish and Anti-homosexual to Anti-Black incidents.
While the numbers are staggering, part of the growth in reported hate crimes was due to increased use of the reporting mechanisms LAvsHate.org and 211, which LA County Commission on Human Relations President Helen Chin said was a “signal that more people are coming forward to report hate crimes and are refusing to accept the normalization of hate.”
“Hate crimes don’t just target individuals - they harm entire communities,” Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Chair Kathryn Barger added. “They are an attack on the very fabric of who we are, and the shared values that unite us. That’s why this report is so important — it’s more than just data. It serves as a mirror, reflecting the challenges we face and the work we must do to create a County where everyone feels safe, respected and valued.”
In the first hate crime report received after he won the county’s District Attorney position, Nathan Hochman said that the rise in hate crime is “deeply troubling.”
“We must come together to protect and support our diverse communities,” Hochman said. “Today, we have an opportunity to combat hate and prejudice so that every resident in LA County can feel safe in their homes, their places of worship, and their neighborhoods.”
To view the complete report, visit the County’s website at lacounty.gov.
thomas@smdp.com
