Prince James Story
At the end of June, Attorney General Rob Bonta and the California Department of Justice released its 2022 Hate Crime in California Report.
While some populations saw a stark decrease in hate crime events, overall, the number of hate crimes in California has continued to increase.
Looking back, 2014 had the lowest number of reported hate crimes in the last decade, with 758 reported incidents. Despite 2014 results, however, hate crime events in California exploded during the last ten years, increasing 145.7 percent.
“This report is a stark reminder that there is still much work to be done to combat hate in our state. I urge local partners and law enforcement to review these findings and recommit to taking action,” said Attorney General Bonta in a press release.
“An attack against one of us is an attack against all of us.”
Anti-Black
Anti-Black hate crime incidents increased by 27.1%, and hate crime events rose from 513 in 2021 to 652 in 2022.
“We must sound the alarm. Hate is on the rise. These numbers show that it is imperative that we take swift and decisive action to halt the rise of hate crimes targeting the Black community and be an ally against hate in partnership with the Jewish and LGBTQ+ communities,” said Assemblymember Dr. Corey Jackson in a statement to Black Voice News.
Jackson’s office also emphasized the importance of Assembly Bill 1079. If passed, AB 1079 will create radio, social media, and television campaigns to discourage discrimination based on disability, gender, nationality, race/ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation.
Under AB 1079, the Department of Public Health director would appoint a nine-member team with expertise in marketing and messaging.
“By passing AB 1079 into law, we can tackle the root causes of such crimes, promote education and create an anti-hate, antiracist, and anti-xenophobic state,” said Jackson.
Other Categories
Anti-Asian hate crimes decreased this year after having record-high numbers in 2020 and 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the report, 101 Asian individuals were attacked in hate crime events in 2020, which was a 102% increase from 2019, when 50 people were reported as victims of hate crimes.
Anti-Asian bias events fell from 247 in 2021 to 140 in 2022.
Among religious groups, the biggest increase in hate crimes was against the Jewish community. Anti-Jewish events increased by 24.3%, from 152 in 2021 to 189 in 2022.
California data is indicative of what is seen across the country, which shows a significant increase in anti-Jewish attacks in the past year.
In 2022, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a Jewish, anti-hate nonprofit, governmental organization, identified 3,697 antisemitic incidents across the United States —a 36% increase from the 2,717 incidents recorded in 2021.
Antisemitic incidents in 2022 were recorded as the highest number on record since ADL began tracking antisemitic incidents in 1979, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
Similar to religious and race/ethnic groups, hate crimes motivated by a sexual orientation bias increased by 29%, from 303 in 2021 to 391 in 2022.
Prosecutions and convictions
The FBI defines a hate crime as a “criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity.”
However, these crimes are often difficult to prosecute because you need to prove not only that the incident occurred but also the state of mind of the suspect as to whether or not his/her action was motivated by hate.
As a result, there are occasions when a crime can be filed and prosecuted as a “bias-related crime” but not convicted as a “hate crime.” This occurs when a judge or jury does not agree, based on the evidence, that the crime was motivated by hate.
There were 122 hate crime cases in the state, with a court disposition noted in this report. Of those, 43.4% were hate crime convictions, 45.9% were other convictions, and 10.7% of the cases did not result in convictions.
In Riverside County, 22 hate crime cases were referred for prosecution, during this reporting period, and 17 were filed as hate crimes. In San Bernardino, 11 hate crime cases were referred for prosecution, and 10 were filed as hate crimes.
Hate crimes can be challenging to track because not all attacks are reported.
For example, some members of marginalized communities may be more hesitant to report an incident because they don’t know how to navigate the legal system, or they fear the possibility of blowback from the police department and the lack of faith that anything will be done. In addition, members of the LGBTQ+ community may hesitate to come forward, fearing the possibility of being “publicly outed,” according to the research collaborative Tackling Hate.