The Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations just released its 2022 Hate Crimes Report, which shows an increase in hate crimes across the county.
Hate crimes in Los Angeles County rose in 2022, with attacks targeting a broad spectrum of racial and ethnic, religious, and sexual minorities. The increase is attributed in part to a rise in local reporting, but it also follows broader state, national, and even global trends.
The most recent data comes from the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations, which just released its Hate Crime Report for 2022.
“Reported hate crimes in Los Angeles County have reached the second-highest level in more than 20 years,” said Executive Director Robin Toma, at a Wednesday press conference announcing the report’s release. “Nearly every race, ethnicity, nationality and religion has been targeted.”
In total, 929 hate crimes were reported countywide in 2022, an increase of 18% from the previous year. (California statewide reported an increase of 22%.) Of the total, 72% were violent, with race being the motivating factor in 57% of the attacks.
African Americans were disproportionately represented among victims at 531. Attacks targeting Latinos rose by 31%, though 931.7% of them were violent, the highest level of any racial and ethnic group. Crimes against Asians fell by 251.7%, though the 61 reported crimes still marked the highest level ever recorded.
Eighteen percent of the attacks were motivated by sexual orientation, followed by those motivated by religious identification (16%). Of the latter, 83% were anti-Jewish, and the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine has led to an even greater rise in anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim attacks since fighting began in October.
As complaints increase, so does hate
Toma said the increase in complaints through the website LA vs Hate The increase in the number of hate crimes and hate-related incidents by the county and 211 LA, where victims can call to report hate crimes and hate-related incidents anonymously and in a multitude of languages, has led to higher overall numbers, though she acknowledged the numbers: However high they are, they represent “just a handful” of the actual total.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, nearly half of all violent hate crimes go unreported to law enforcement, while an even higher proportion of hate incidents and nonviolent hate crimes go unreported. Reasons include fear of interacting with or lack of trust in law enforcement, as well as concern that reporting could lead to further attacks.
Toma also described a broader atmosphere of rising intolerance and extremism as helping to fuel the rise of hate in Los Angeles. He listed a grim list of incidents, including racially motivated mass shootings in Atlanta, Pittsburgh, El Paso and the May 2022 mass shooting in Buffalo, New York, that claimed 10 lives.
The latter, he noted, was related to an incident involving an adult white male who attacked an African-American teenager, making repeated phone calls and text messages warning of his association with the Ku Klux Klan. The perpetrator sent multiple images of firearms, threatening a mass shooting like the one in Buffalo.
“This is an example of how hate and outside violence influences violence in the county,” Toma said.
'Hate has no borders'
The Los Angeles Commission on Human Relations has been tracking data on hate crimes since 1980. A hate crime is defined as any crime motivated by bias against race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or disability.
“Hate knows no borders,” said Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis. “What we are seeing is a trend across the country and the world… Hate crimes continue to rise.”
It was Solis, along with Supervisor Sheila Keuhl, who in 2018 drafted a measure aimed at protecting minority communities in Los Angeles from hate crimes. That measure eventually led to the creation of the anti-hate initiative LA vs Hate. Led by the Human Relations Commission, LA vs Hate works with a coalition of community partners to track and combat hate throughout Los Angeles County.
Visitors to the site will find a variety of resources available and will also be able to report hate crimes or hate-related incidents. According to Toma, the LA v Hate site is now the third-largest source of reported hate crimes after the LAPD and the Sheriff's office.
“We have a lot of challenges, but the good thing is that we are collecting data,” Solis said — data that is being used to help direct critical funding to anti-hate initiatives, including training for law enforcement, as well as education, data collection efforts and coalition-building.
Reporting is key to combating hate
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna emphasized his department’s commitment to combating the rise of hate and stressed the importance of coming forward when it happens. “When there is a hate attack, it threatens the entire community,” Luna said. “When someone doesn’t report it, it ends up in the hands of the perpetrators.”
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office is one of the only in the country that tracks non-criminal hate incidents, Luna explained, noting that doing so “gives the community a voice when hate doesn’t rise to the level of a crime” and also helps “prevent acts of hate before they happen.”
Los Angeles Police Deputy Chief Blake Chow echoed Luna. “We have to report. If people don’t report, we don’t know what’s going on.”
He also offered this reminder about the numbers contained in the report.
“Each one of these numbers is tied to a victim… to a family,” he said. “This is a commentary on where we are as a society.”
This publication was supported in whole or part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the CaliFornia State Library.
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