California hate crimes have increased 21.3 percent between 2015 and 2016, according to a report released today by the state’s attorney general that between 2007 and 2016 hate crimes on an ethnic or racial basis have Been the most common.
Analysis of the data found that hate crimes in general increased by 11.2% between 2015 (837) and 2016 (931), contrary to the last decade that recorded a 34.7% decrease in reports of hate crimes Going from 1,426 in 2007 to 931 in 2016.
“When someone commits a crime motivated by hatred, it is not just an attack on an innocent person but an attack on the entire state and our communities,” California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said today in presenting the report.
The study found that in the analyzed period racial hatred accounted for 57% of the total, followed by those originated by sexual orientation, which accounted for 22.5% and by religion with 17.9%.
Hate crimes against Hispanics in 2016 accounted for 16%, the second after the crimes against African Americans with 48.4%, which is far behind the targets with 10% and the Asians with a 4.2% %.
73.4% of hate crimes for sexual orientation were against gais (men), 15.5% against homosexuals in general and 8.7% against lesbian women.
In 2016, 64.8% of hate crimes were violent, while 35.2% were acts against property.
The most common offense in the violent crimes of 2016 was intimidation with 40.2%, followed by the simple assault with 30.9% and the aggravated assault with 24.6%.
Although the lowest number of hate crimes based on ethnicity or race (412) was reported in 2014, the number in 2016 (519) was similar to 2012 (528), showing a worrying increase, according to the report.
“With today’s report we can see that words matter and that discriminatory rhetoric does not make us stronger but it divides us and puts at risk the security of our communities,” said the Hispanic prosecutor.
