Survey of Schools Finds Hate Crimes Widespread

Los Angeles County’s public schools have a “serious problem” with hate crimes and related incidents of bigotry and racism, with blacks and Latinos the most frequent victims, according to an exhaustive new survey released Wednesday.

The report, by the county Human Relations Commission and county Office of Education, is believed to be the first comprehensive study of crime and hate-related incidents in the public schools anywhere in the United States. While the Human Relations Commission collects data annually on such crimes among the general population, it has never before conducted a sweeping survey of schools.

The survey, sent in March to all 1,570 public schools--including the 646-campus Los Angeles Unified School District--was undertaken to “provide us, the schools and the community with a picture of what is happening,” said Eugene Mornell, executive director of the Human Relations Commission.

Because this is the first such survey, Mornell said he cannot say whether such incidents are growing or declining. But the report, which found that incidents had occurred at 37% of all responding schools, “does indicate there is a serious problem” in the county, he said.

The area has seen explosive growth in Latino, Asian and immigrant populations.

Among the survey’s key findings:

--More schools (168 of the 956 responding to the survey) reported anti-black incidents than any other type. Blacks, who make up 13.8% of the 1988-89 countywide school enrollment, were victims of about 29% of all incidents.

--Latinos, who account for 46.7% of the enrollment, were victims of racial incidents at 144 schools. With 651 incidents directed against them, Latinos accounted for about 30% of the victims.

--Anglos were the third-largest victims’ group, with 91 schools reporting 337 incidents. Anglos make up 28.9% of the county school population, and represented 15.8% of all victims.

--Asians and Pacific Islanders, making up 8.6% of the school enrollment, suffered 14.5% of all incidents, 309 at 91 schools.

--Immigrants were the victims of more than 22% of all incidents against students. There were substantially fewer incidents against religious groups than racial groups. Jewish students made up the majority of anti-religious victims, with 40 incidents reported at 20 schools.

--Anti-gay and lesbian violence was the sixth most-common type reported. Twenty-four schools reported a total of 65 incidents.

The survey also found that only 4.5% of all incidents could be traced to such hate groups as the white-supremacist “skinheads.” Yet, the presence of such groups on a campus appeared to contribute to an “atmosphere of intolerance” in that there were more hate crimes reported at schools where such groups were found.

Noting that 61% of all schools contacted completed the four-page survey, Mornell said the findings will be the subject of a Jan. 11 conference of school administrators, county officials and others to seek solutions to conflicts among students of different racial and ethnic backgrounds or sexual orientation.

The study defined hate crimes as any criminal acts committed against an individual or an institution and motivated by bigotry based on race, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation. It added such non-criminal acts as name calling and making racial slurs to its survey because such acts “occur so frequently on campuses, often reflect serious intergroup tension and . . . may lead to serious vandalism or assault.”

The incidents occurred most frequently at junior high or middle schools (47% of those surveyed reported problems), followed by high schools (42%) and elementary schools (34%).

Racial slurs and name calling were the most prevalent type of incidents reported against students, representing 47% of all incidents reported. Physical violence was reported in 25% of the cases. Graffiti was the third most common type of incident.

Participating schools were promised anonymity. However, two sample schools were selected, with names deleted, so the Human Relations Commission could compare results between a school with no reported incidents and one with many.

From these samples, the commission concluded that there was no clear relationship between the socioeconomic status of students and the incidents of acts of hatred. It also noted that such incidents tended to increase sharply when any given minority or ethnic group makes up at least 10% of a school’s population.

Incidents against school employees were included in the survey, which found that punishment tended to be more severe when a student acted out against a teacher or other adult employed at the school.

Phil Kauble, of the county Office of Education’s division of evaluation, attendance and pupil services, said he welcomes the survey as a way to “get a jump on the problem.”

Like problems with drugs and gangs did a few years earlier, the issue of ethnic and other group tensions “just crept up on all of society, including the schools.”

The Human Relation Commission’s Mornell said the idea for the school survey grew out of the annual compilations the commission has been doing for nine years of hate crimes reported to police throughout the county.

“We’ve had a feeling we should be looking at the schools for quite some time now,” Mornell said.

Some dramatic differences in results between the crime reports and the comprehensive school survey have been noted, he said. For example, Anglo males are the most frequent perpetrators of hate crimes among adults, and are rarely victims, according to police reports. But, Anglos form a substantial group of victims in the schools, the survey found.

Mornell said crimes against immigrants make up only about 5% of those reported among adults, yet 22% of incidents reported in the schools were aimed at immigrants. Mornell attributed the difference to many immigrant adults’ reluctance to report crimes against them. The schools’ survey was filled out by school administrators or teachers and thus did not depend on the victims coming forward, he said.