Highest number of anti-Black hate crimes reported last year in LA County, report says

Black people were “grossly overrepresented” in the overall total of those targeted by hate crimes last year in Los Angeles County and made up 51% of racial hate crime victims, according to a new report from the county Commission on Human Relations.

The annual Hate Crime Report, released Thursday, found there were 345 anti-Black crimes recorded in 2024 — the highest number ever recorded since the commission started reporting on hate crimes in 1980.

Last year also saw the largest number of anti-transgender crimes ever documented in the area — 102 — of which “a staggering” 95% were violent, the report states.

In all, there were 1,355 hate crimes reported in 2024, the second highest number of cases ever recorded, following the highest number of hate crimes the previous year prior.

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“These numbers remain unprecedented, reflecting both the alarming persistence of hate and the Commission’s ongoing efforts to respond and take action against hate,” the report states.

Hate crimes and incidents

The report has numerous examples of hate crimes.

In one documented case, a trans woman was standing outside her home with her boyfriend when an unknown assailant approached them and called them transphobic and homophobic insults, according to the report. The situation escalated when the attacker struck the victim with a rock on the neck, head and arms.

“Unfortunately, we live in a society where there is a lot of ignorance and a lot of resistance to accepting the fact that transpeople exist in this world,” said Bamby Salcedo, who is with the Trans Latin@Coalition.

She attended the news conference where the report was released.

“We also have a current administration that has been dedicated to targeting our community directly,” said Salcedo, referring to the Trump administration.

In another case, a school principal reported that a classroom was vandalized and ransacked. Inside the classroom, walls, ceilings and equipment were defaced with the word “NAZI” and the N-word racial slur written in pink marker, according to the report.

Second to Black people, the largest group targeted was the LGBT community. The report found 255 crimes motivated by sexual orientation, with nearly three quarters targeting gay men.

Religious groups were the third most commonly targeted by hate crimes. While religious crimes decreased 13%, they still accounted for nearly 260 incidents. Jewish people were the largest religious group to be targeted by far. They accounted for 80% of all victims.

In one case in the West San Fernando Valley, a 15-year-old girl at a high school got into a verbal altercation with a male classmate. He called her a religious slur and punched her multiple times, according to the report.

More on the data

Last year had the highest numeric increase of violent crimes in L.A. County from 464 to 508 — a 9% increase. Seventy-five percent of racial crimes were of a violent nature, according to the report.

The most common criminal offense was simple assault followed by vandalism, aggravated assault and intimidation.

Crimes in which anti-immigrant slurs and taunts were used decreased 31% to 85 last year, the report states. It does not capture hate crimes for this year, when the region saw widespread immigration raids and heightened anti-Latino rhetoric by President Donald Trump and others.

Officials predicted an increase in anti-immigrant and anti-Latino crimes this year.

“We’re probably, unfortunately, going to come out higher for Latino-based hate crimes in relation to the immigration issue that’s going on right now in the region,” LAPD Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton said at the news conference.

Other takeaways from the report:

• Anti-Latino crimes decreased by 1% to 143.
  
• Crimes targeting Middle Eastern people sharply increased from 22 to 48, the highest count ever in this report.
  
• Crimes with evidence of white supremacist ideology decreased 42% to 123, comprising 9% of all hate crimes.
  
• Reported hate crimes taking place at schools grew 6% from 139 to 147. This is the highest count ever documented in the report. These hate crimes included those taking place in K-12 schools, as well as college and university campuses.
  
• Anti-woman crimes grew 75% from 20 to 35.