California released its 2008 Hate Crimes Report (PDF). And while overall hate crimes decreased by 2% over 2007, hate crimes against LGBT and Jewish people were among the few categories that went up:
Anti-Gay hate crime events increased 16.7 percent from 132 in 2007 to 154 in 2008. Anti-Jewish hate crime events increased 37.3 percent from 134 in 2007 to 184 in 2008.
In 2008, hate crimes with a religious bias motivation were the second most common type of hate crime, comprising 21 percent of hate crimes. Until this year, hate crimes with a religious bias motivation had consistently been the third most common hate crime following hate crimes with a sexual bias motivation. Within this category, hate crimes with an anti-Jewish motivation continue to be the most common, accounting for at least 7 percent of all hate crimes since 1999.
In 2008, hate crimes with a sexual bias motivation were the third most common type of hate crime, comprising 20.3 percent of hate crimes. Within this category, hate crimes with an anti-Gay motivation continue to be the most common, accounting for at least 9 percent of all hate crimes reported since 1999.
The rise in LGBT hate crimes in California is probably unsurprising given the attention Prop 8 brought to our population. This study did not list Mormonism specifically, but the category “Anti-Other Religion” saw an increase of over 100% as well. Anti-Catholic hate crimes increased from 10 to 12.
Check out some of the diagrams that break down some of the information.
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