Hate crimes in Los Angeles County have dropped to the lowest level in 15 years

Los Angeles Times:

The crimes declined for the third consecutive year — to 502 in 2004, down from 691 in the prior year. African-Americans, gays, and Jews were the groups targeted most heavily, but hate crimes against Latinos jumped 15% and 7% against Asians, according to the report.

"Hate crime motivated by prejudice against the victim's race, national origin or ethnicity continue to be the most common hate crime, followed by sexual orientation and religion-based hate crime," according to the report..

But the report recorded greater levels of conflict between African Americans, who were suspects in 78% of the anti-Latino crimes, and Latinos, who were suspects in 73% of the anti-black hate crimes.

"This is one of the most important challenges we face, " said Robin S. Toma, Executive Director of the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission. "That gangs continue to persist despite strong police actions speaks to the fact that gangs fill a vacuum left by our failure to invest adequately in youth programs that can succeed in gang prevention and intervention."

According to the report, one in 10 hate crimes were committed by gang members, and 80% of the victims were African-American.

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