{"id":22894,"date":"2024-04-16T08:15:59","date_gmt":"2024-04-16T15:15:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/?p=22894"},"modified":"2024-04-16T17:06:33","modified_gmt":"2024-04-17T00:06:33","slug":"hate-crimes-are-difficult-to-condemn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/hate-crimes-are-difficult-to-condemn\/","title":{"rendered":"Hate crimes are extremely difficult to convict, says California Attorney General Rob Bonta"},"content":{"rendered":"

Several nonprofit organizations, led by Community Alliance in Fresno, California, organized a day-long United Against Hate summit.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Hate
Hate crimes are difficult to prosecute, says California Attorney General Rob Bonta. Attorney General Rob Bonta (far right) at a United Against Hate summit in Fresno, California. (Photo by Sunita Sohrabji)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Listen to this note:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

By Sunita Sohrabji. Etnic Media Services<\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

FRESNO, Calif. \u2014 An increasing number of hate crimes are being reported in California, but convictions remain low, California Attorney General Rob Bonta said.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Ethnic Media Services on the sidelines of the United Against Hate summit at Fresno City College, Bonta noted that hate crimes are notoriously difficult to prosecute. \u201cThey require proof of intent. By design, a hate crime must originate with the element of hate, which is often difficult to establish.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHate crimes are an add-on to the sentence \u2014 they\u2019re considered an extra. You\u2019re already charging assault or battery,\u201d Bonta said, noting that a successful conviction for a hate crime could add 2 to 5 years to the sentence. She urged victims of a hate crime to gather as much evidence as possible and to get details.<\/p>\n

Low conviction rates<\/h2>\n

Last June, Bonta's office published the\u00a0California Hate Crimes Report 2022<\/u><\/a> . The report noted that reported hate crimes in the state increased by 20.2%, from 1,763 in 2021 to 2,120 in 2022. Hate crimes targeting Black people remained the most prevalent, increasing by 27.1% from 513 in 2021 to 652 in 2022, while anti-Asian crimes decreased by 43.3%, from 247 in 2021 to 140 in 2022.<\/p>\n

Hate crimes in California involving sexual orientation bias increased 29%, from 303 in 2021 to 391 in 2022.<\/p>\n

But of the more than 2,100 hate crimes reported in the state, only 52 resulted in hate crime convictions.<\/p>\n

Most reported hate crimes never made it to court: Only 456 cases were brought by elected district attorneys and city attorneys, the report said.<\/p>\n

[embedyt] https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=c9Rr7cChSHA[\/embedyt]<\/p>\n

Divisive political rhetoric<\/h2>\n

In her formal remarks at the summit, Bonta said hate was not a new phenomenon. \u201cIt has been with us since time immemorial. We need to look out for each other, and commit to the proposition that hate against any of us is hate against all of us and is unacceptable.\u201d She said she feared for her mother, amid the rise of violent hate attacks against AAPI seniors.<\/p>\n

The Attorney General was tacitly referring to the rise in hate crimes over the past seven months targeting both American Jews and Arab Americans, sparked by the war between Israel and Hamas. \u201cThe horrific and unacceptable deaths of children and civilians that we are seeing in Palestine and Israel are unacceptable. And they are affecting us here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Several nonprofit organizations set up tables outside the Stand Up to Hate summit in Fresno, California, to share resources to combat hate. (Photo by Sunita Sohrabji0)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Trump factor<\/h2>\n

Bonta also indirectly addressed Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who has used highly divisive rhetoric during the election campaign. The candidate has repeatedly claimed that \u201cimmigrants are poisoning the blood of America\u201d and has promised to reinstate his \u201cMuslim ban.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have leaders who use the most toxic and xenophobic language. They give license to others.\u201d<\/p>\n

Organizer Darren Miller asked Bonta a question about the expected chaos that will ensue if Trump doesn\u2019t win. \u201cOne of the hallmarks of a democracy is the peaceful transfer of power. You can\u2019t declare victory when you win and malfeasance when you don\u2019t win,\u201d Bonta said.<\/p>\n

Distrust in the police<\/h2>\n

The United Against Hate summit on April 6 was hosted by the Community Alliance newspaper in partnership with the Fresno Center. The day-long event brought together more than 20 nonprofits, who set up tables outside the venue to share their efforts to end hate. Mike Rhodes, executive director of the Community Alliance, told EMS that Fresno and surrounding cities were plagued by hate activity, much of it going unreported.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people here don\u2019t trust the police,\u201d Rhodes said, adding that when hate incidents and crimes are reported, they often go unnoticed. The Fresno Police Department set up an information table at the event.<\/p>\n

The morning featured four concurrent workshops, including tools for bystanders who witness a hate crime; what to do if you are a victim of a hate crime; and a \u201cknow your rights\u201d discussion led by the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Amir Brooks, who chaired the workshop, recalled a recent event in which he was stopped by police in the small town of Clovis, California.<\/p>\n

Walking while black<\/h2>\n

Brooks is black and disabled. \u201cI was limping toward the store. Within a couple of minutes, the police stopped me, shined a light in my face and asked me a bunch of questions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I arrived at the store, I was stopped by two more police officers, who again questioned me and then compared my answers to those I had given to the other officers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs I was walking home, I was followed by the police. They had obviously identified me as a suspect for no reason,\u201d Brooks said.<\/p>\n

Read the original note here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\" \"\" This publication was supported in whole or part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the\u00a0Cali<\/a>Fornia State<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

You may be interested in:<\/strong> College professors should never lay hands on students: National Lawyers Guild<\/a><\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Varias organizaciones sin fines de lucro, encabezadas por Community Alliance en Fresno, California, organizaron una cumbre Unidos contra el Odio de un d\u00eda de duraci\u00f3n. Escucha esta nota:   Por Sunita Sohrabji. Etnic Media Services.\u00a0 FRESNO, California \u2014 Se est\u00e1 reportando un n\u00famero cada vez mayor de cr\u00edmenes de odio en California, pero las condenas […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":22895,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,14],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-22894","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-community","8":"category-cover"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22894"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22894\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22926,"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22894\/revisions\/22926"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}