NCJ Number
197712
Editor(s)
Tad Davis
Date Published
June 2002
Length
59 pages
Annotation
This report presents data on hate crimes under California law to or known by police in 2001 including, for the first time, trend data.
Abstract
California Penal Code Section 13023 defines a hate crime as any criminal act or attempted criminal act motivated by hatred based on race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or disability. Crimes must be reported to the Department of Justice (DOJ) by law enforcement agencies and the crime report includes information about bias motivation, type of crime, location of crime, number of victims, number of known suspects, and more. This is the eighth hate crime report for the State of California and covers the period January 1 through December 31, 2001. Hate crimes in total increased for 2001. Highlights of the increases include: (1) hate crime events increased 304 to 2,261; (2) 314 complaints were filed as hate crimes by District Attorneys; (3) hate crime offenses increased by 263 to 2,265; (4) victims of hate crimes increased by 460 to 2,812; and (5) known suspects of hate crimes increased by 372 to 2,479. Regarding bias motivation, anti-other ethnicity/national origin hate crime events increased 345.8 percent, anti-Islamic hate crime events increased by 70 percent and anti-Jewish hate crime events decreased 25.4 percent. Highlights from the new added trend data section, based on accumulated data for the years 1995-2001, included: (1) anti-Asian/Pacific Islander hate crime offenses decreased 37.2 percent; (2) anti-white hate crime offenses decreased 29.7 percent; and (3) aggravated assault offenses decreased 19.4 percent in 2001. All law enforcement agencies in California participated in the program. Tables and graphs