Fewer Hate Crimes Reported in State

The number of reported hate crimes in California went down in 2002, while prosecutions rose, with a substantial reduction in reported attacks on people of Middle Eastern and Muslim descent, according to new state data.

“There is so much evidence that shows how tolerant California culture is,” Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer said last week in releasing statistics on hate crimes in 2002. “But we have to work on those who take action against the tolerance.

“Hate crimes tear at the fabric of our multiracial community,” Lockyer said at the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Museum of Tolerance, where the report was released at a news conference.

Reported crimes against Arabs and Muslims decreased sharply, 54%, from 428 incidents in 2001 to 199 in 2002, the state tabulation said. In 2001, the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks caused an anti-Arab backlash and a sharp increase in reported hate crimes against Arabs and others from Middle Eastern nations. Reported hate crimes against followers of Islam were also high then, at 97 cases. There were just 19 such cases reported last year, according to the state data.

“We can tell the Muslim community that the attacks and the hysteria after 9/11 have cooled,” Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Wiesenthal Center, said at the news conference.

The annual Hate Crime in California 2002 report details crimes that were attributed to the victim’s race, ethnicity, religious affiliation, national origin or sexual orientation.

The number of reported hate crimes in the state dropped 27% in 2002, down to 1,659 reported incidents from 2,261 in 2001. Hate crimes based on race, ethnicity or national origin dropped 32%, and those linked to the victim’s sexual orientation dropped nearly 13%. Religiously motivated crimes declined 19%.

“The hate crime incidents are down, and for those cases reported, lawyers and district attorneys did something more about them,” Lockyer said.

The report showed that the 425 hate crime cases prosecutors filed in 2002 resulted in 253 convictions. That is more than in 2001, when there were 207 convictions out of the 360 hate crime cases filed.

There also are more law enforcement agencies reporting the incidents, Lockyer said.

“It is always hard to know what is going unreported,” Lockyer said. “But there seems to be more willingness to report as people realize we are taking them seriously.”

According to the report, Los Angeles County filed the most cases for hate crimes, with 71 dispositions and 60 convictions.

“Our job will never be done until we have no hate crimes,” Lockyer said, “but I am encouraged by the report.”

Also at the news conference, the Wiesenthal Center released a report, on CD-ROM, called Digital Terrorism and Hate 2003, which details the impact of the Internet on the spread of intolerance and hate crimes.

Meant to act as an interactive tool for law enforcement and educators, the center’s report lists dozens of Web pages sponsored by groups such as white supremacists and terrorist organizations from all over the world.

The creators of some Web pages even include suggestions on how to stage attacks.

“This is the underside of the Internet,” Cooper said.

Groups from nations such as Germany and Canada run their sites through the United States because the U.S. has fewer laws controlling the content of personal Web sites, Cooper said.