Hate crimes in Los Angeles County reach all-time high in 2023

LOS ANGELES - Hate crimes reported in Los Angeles County were at an all-time high in 2023, according to a new report from the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission released Wednesday.

In 2023, there were 1,350 hate crimes reported in Los Angeles County, up 45% from the previous year, and the highest total since the Commission started analyzing hate crime data. 

They're numbers that Commission president Helen Chin called "unprecedented."

Robin Toma, the commission's Executive Director, said he "was shocked to learn" about the numbers and was "taken aback by the amount that we exceeded the past record in 2001."

A graph showing hate crimes reported in Los Angeles County by year. (Credit: LA County Commission on Human Relations 2023 Hate Crime Report)

"We knew we were seeing a rise in hate crimes each year in a way that we've never seen before," said Toma. 

According to the report, the most common hate crimes in 2023 were based on race, ethnicity or national origin, making up for about 45% of all reports.

Two other big groups were hate crimes based on religion, particularly crimes against Jewish people and Muslims, and crimes based on sexual orientation. Hate crimes against transgender people, for example, went up 125% from 2022 to 2023.

"Hate crimes against gays and lesbians… [tend] to be one out of every five or six hate crimes reported," Toma said.

Toma told FOX 11 that he believes one of the reasons for the spike is that people may be more comfortable reporting hate crimes.

In response to the rise in hate crime, the commission says that it's holding training to help educate people, and through initiatives like LA vs Hate which works to build community.

THE FULL 2023 HATE CRIME REPORT CAN BE FOUND BY TAPPING OR CLICKING HERE.