Crime continues to be one of the predominant issues in Santa Monica and the Los Angeles area, including the tragedy of hate crime events. On June 28, California Attorney General Rob Bonta released the 2023 Hate Crime in California report, which showed that hate crime events in California decreased by 7.1% from 2022 (2,120 incidents) to 2023 (1,970 incidents).
California state law defines a hate crime as any crime "against a person, group, or property motivated by the victim’s real or perceived protected social group." This is a distinct difference from "hate incidents," which are actions or behaviors that may be protected by the First Amendment right to freedom of expression, such as name-calling or insults.
Despite the overall decrease in the state, Bonta noted that the LGBTQ+, Jewish and Muslim communities "continue to be targeted and endangered by hate at alarming rates."
"An attack against one of us is an attack against all of us, there is no place for hate in California," Bonta added. "Everyone has a part to play as we continue to fight prejudice and create safer communities in California."
Religious and sexual orientation biases indeed rose between 2022 and 2023, with reported hate crime events involving a religion bias rising 30% over that time, resulting in 394 incidents reported in 2023. Of these, anti-Jewish bias events accounted for 289 of these, a sharp increase of 52.9% from 2022. Anti-Islamic bias events increased from 25 in 2022 to 40 in 2023.
Hate crime events motivated by sexual orientation increased by 4.1% over the year, however, the percentage rise is much more poignant when looking at anti-LGBTQ+ bias events. The number of those events increased by 86.4% from 2022, while the amount of anti-transgender bias events rose by 10.2%.
In Los Angeles County, 664 hate crime incidents in 2023 resulted in 748 offenses against 744 victims. In a prosecutorial survey response by Los Angeles County prosecutors, 77 total cases were filed as hate crimes, leading to 16 total convictions.
Santa Monica’s jurisdiction reported 11 hate crime events totaling 15 offenses committed on 15 victims by 13 suspects. Santa Monica College reported three events, each a lone offense with a lone victim.
The Santa Monica Police Department has data for the first three quarters of 2023 on its website, listing seven of the purported incidents with 11 victims. Three of the offenses were anti-Black motivated, impacting six victims, while two were anti-LGBTQ offenses affecting three victims, and two were sole-victim, anti-Jewish motivated.
Not counting the City of Los Angeles or incidents involving the LA Sheriff’s Department, Santa Monica was tied with Beverly Hills and Glendale for the third-most hate crime events in county jurisdictions, trailing only West Hollywood (13 incidents) and Long Beach (31 incidents).
"Everyone has a part to play as we continue to fight prejudice and create safer communities in California," Bonta added. "I urge everyone to review the data and resources available and recommit to standing united against hate."
