LA County Hate Crimes Continue To Rise For Fourth Year

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LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — Hate crimes continue to rise in Los Angeles County, continuing a four-year upward trend that has seen a 32 percent jump in such incidents, according to a report released Thursday.

The Commission on Human Relations found there were 508 hate crimes reported in Los Angeles County last year, half of which were race-based – an increase of 9 percent from 235 in 2016 to 256 last year.

Although black residents make up only 9 percent of LA County's population, they represent 50 percent of the racial hate crimes committed in 2017, according to the report.

"We are extremely concerned that reported hate crimes in L.A. County have been trending upwards for four years in a row," said Robin Toma, the commission's executive director. "The rise in L.A. County mirrors increases in hate crimes in most major U.S. cities in 2017."

Crimes targeting Latino/Latina victims rose a third year in a row from 62 to 72 – a 16 percent jump.

And while crimes targeting gays, lesbians and LGBT groups dipped 2 percent, they still represent 21 percent of all hate crimes, according to the report, which also noted that 76 percent of those crimes were violent in nature.

The number of religious crimes stayed at 101, while a record number of crimes – 33 – targeted transgender victims, according to the report.