The number of hate crimes, victims and suspects have all increased in San Diego County from 2015 to 2016, according to a report released Monday.
The 2016 edition of the Hate Crime in California report was published by Attorney General Xavier Becerra. According to the report, hate crime events increased by 117 percent, hate crime offenses increased by 111 percent, hate crime victims increased by 107 percent and hate crime suspects increased by 135 percent in San Diego County.
There were 312 total hate crime events and there were 400 actual hate crime offenses reported in San Diego County from 2015 to 2016, stated the report.
In 2015, San Diego had the most cases related to hate crimes referred and filed at the District Attorney’s office in the state. In 2016, San Diego had the second highest number of hate crimes referred and filed.
FBI statistics also show that hate crime events are increasing in the region of San Diego County. There were 84 hate crimes reported in San Diego last year, compared to 73 in 2015, according to the agency.
An increase in hate crimes in California is happening amid an unsettling increase in hate crimes nationwide, said Attorney Becerra.
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Highlights of the report included that the number of hate crime events increased 11.2 percent from 2015 to 2016 across California. On the other hand, the total number of hate crime events decreased 34.7 percent from 2007 to 2016.
Most hate crimes involve some form of racial bias. That bias has lead to 57 percent of all hate crime events since 2007. Sexual orientation bias is responsible for 22.5 percent and religious bias is 17.9 percent, according to the report.
Last year, 64.5 percent of hate crimes involved violent crime offenses and 35 percent involved property crime offenses.
