5:18 PM PST, December 19, 2006
Hate crimes up, study says
L.A. County incidents increased 26% last year, fueled largely by aggression
between blacks and Latinos, often at schools.
By Susannah Rosenblatt, Times Staff Writer
December 15, 2006
Reported incidents of hate crimes in Los Angeles County increased for the
first time in four years, while such incidents in schools have more than
doubled from last year, according to a report released Thursday.
The 26% spike in reported countywide hate crimes last year was fueled
primarily by a nearly 50% jump in racially motivated offenses, especially
toward immigrants and between African Americans and Latinos, according to
an annual analysis by the county Commission on Human Relations.
The report tracked hate crimes reported to law enforcement or other
agencies, but did not address which ones led to criminal charges or arrests.
Conflicts between blacks and Latinos erupted on the streets, in jails and
at schools, with school-based hate crimes soaring by 111%. Many of these
incidents on or near campus occurred in South Los Angeles, the report said.
The figure does not include 11 of 14 large student scuffles last year. The
commission did not receive reports on those incidents because it was
difficult to determine if they were racially motivated.
"All it takes is one incident," Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke said.
The rise in hate crimes reported across the county bucks state and national
downward trends, the commission found. The city of Los Angeles also
measured a roughly 10% dip in hate crimes, said Assistant Chief Earl
Paysinger of the Los Angeles Police Department.
Yet the number of reported hate crimes recorded last year 633 is still
the second-lowest number since 1990. The 2004 tally was 502 incidents.
Violent acts of prejudice are "a virus in the petri dish of our society,"
Paysinger said. "It remains a significant challenge. The first step in
inoculating us from this disease is awareness."
Nearly two-thirds of incidents last year were racially motivated, with 15%
caused by religious intolerance and 15% related to sexual orientation.
Attacks related to sexual orientation dropped by about a quarter from last
year.
Blacks were the most common victims of hate crimes in 2005, followed by
Latinos; gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals; and Jews.
Violence and vandalism were the most widespread offenses.
"The first step to solving this problem is identifying it," said Amanda
Susskind, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League. "This is not a
problem that's going away soon."
The commission's report highlighted simmering tensions between blacks and
Latinos: the majority of suspects in anti-black crimes were Latino and vice
versa, according to the organization's data. Hostilities sparked by heated
debate regarding immigration could account in part for the increase in
anti-Latino incidents, said Robin S. Toma, executive director of the
commission.
The commission analyzed white supremacist crime for the first time and
found 17% of hate crimes were perpetrated by such groups locally, compared
with just 5% nationwide.
Commission members stressed that hate crimes still are widely
underreported, and true statistics could be far greater than the numbers
presented Thursday, especially in schools, jails and juvenile detention
halls. Language barriers, distrust of law enforcement and fear of
retaliation discourage people from reporting hate crimes, Toma said.
Toma also attributed gang-related hate crimes 11% of the racially
motivated attacks from last year to a lack of opportunities for youth,
struggling schools and scarce jobs. He said the bulk of these crimes occur
in low socioeconomic groups.
"The lack of resources creates an environment of violence," said the Rev.
Eric P. Lee, executive director of the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference of Greater Los Angeles.
The county commission defines hate crimes as offenses involving bias,
hatred or prejudice based on a victim's "real or perceived" race, religion,
national origin, disability, gender or sexual orientation.
Two-thirds of the data came from the Los Angeles Police Department and the
county Sheriff's Department, with the rest provided by local police forces,
school districts, community organizations and victims.
susannah.rosenblatt @latimes.com
*
(INFOBOX BELOW)
*
Attacks increase
-
Reported incidents of hate crimes in Los Angeles County increased for the
first time in four years, due in large part to a 46% spike in racially
motivated attacks.
--
Hate crimes by motivation, 2005
Change
% of from
total 2004
Race/ethnicity/national origin 64% + 46%
Religion 15% + 25%
Sexual orientation 15% - 27%
Other/unknown 6% + 95%
Source: Los Angeles County Commission of Human Relations
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