LOS ANGELES — Hate crimes in Los Angeles rose by 15% in 2022, according to a report shared Tuesday by the Los Angeles Police Department, which attributed the increase to expanded outreach efforts that encourage the city’s most vulnerable communities to report such crimes.
The department’s analysis revealed 701 hate crimes and hate incidents in 2022, compared with 610 in 2021. Ninety of those were anti-Hispanic hate crimes, a decrease of 12% from 2021; 180 were anti-Black hate crimes, an increase of 36%; and 33 were anti-Asian hate crimes, which represents a 371% increase from the seven anti-Asian hate crimes reported in 2019, prior to the coronavirus pandemic.
According to the report, the Jewish community was the largest community affected by hate crimes in the religion category, with 89 anti-Semitic hate crimes reported in 2022, an increase of 24% from 2021.
The most common religion-biased crimes involve vandalism, criminal threats and harassment.
Gay men were the largest community affected by hate crimes in the sexual orientation category. Crimes against gay men included aggravated and simple assault, vandalism and criminal threats.
Often suspects in these crimes confront victims regarding their sexual orientation, resulting in a verbal or physical altercation. In 2022, there were 93 anti-gay hate crimes, a decrease of 9% from 2021.
Lastly, in the gender bias category of the report, the transgender community was primarily the victim of these crimes in 2022. Similar to hate crimes committed against gay men, suspects often confront their victims regarding their gender identity, resulting in a verbal or physical altercation.
The most common gender-biased crimes are assaults and criminal threats, with more aggravated assaults than simple assaults.
There were 29 anti-transgender hate crimes in 2022, an increase of 53% from 2021.
In 2022, there was one hate crime against a street vendor compared to two cases reported in 2021.
The LAPD presented its report…
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