Orange County hate crimes jumped 24% in 2019, report says
The increase in hate crimes was the largest seen in the county in the last five years, according to the report.
SANTA ANA, Calif. (CNS) -- Hate crimes in Orange County increased by 24% last year compared to 2018, according to an annual report released Wednesday by the OC Human Relations Commission.
Hate "incidents,'' which are reported encounters involving some sort of bigotry that doesn't rise to the level of a crime, went down in the same period, according to the report.
There were 83 reported hate crimes in the county last year, up from 67 in 2018. Hate incidents decreased from 165 to 156.
The increase in hate crimes was the largest seen in the county in the last five years, according to the report.
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Most often, the hate crime victims were targeted because of their race, ethnicity or national origin, at a rate of 47% last year. The second-highest reason was religion at 28%, sexual orientation at 18%, gender identity at 5% and disability at 1%.
Of the religious-based hate crimes, 52% targeted Jewish people, followed by Roman Catholics, Christians and Muslims at 14% combined, according to the report.
Of the hate crimes motivated by sexual orientation and gender identity, 78% were considered "anti-gay,'' followed by misogyny at 11% and anti-transgender at 11%.
The hate crimes occurred in public places 37% of the time, 18% in places of worship, 17% in residences, 13% on school campuses, 12% in workplaces and in jails at 4%.
