America’s Hate Crime Capital: California
Tom Pappert
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California reported 1,094 incidents of hate crimes in 2017, making the state America’s Hate Crime Capital with over 500 more reported incidents than distant second place New York.
According to 2017 hate crime data, released earlier today by the FBI, the state of California reported almost 1,100 hate crimes in 2017, accounting for over 15 percent of the hate crimes committed in the country for the reporting period. New York had the second highest number of hate crimes at 552, with Washington placing in third at 510.
In its press release, the FBI explains that 7,175 criminal incidents classified as hate crimes were recorded in 2017. These are then broken down into categories, including vandalism, burglary, arson, intimidation, assault, rape, murder, and human trafficking.
Comparing by population, the states with the largest reporting area are not necessarily the states with the most hate crimes. While California has the largest reporting area with over 39 million Americans and 1,094 hate crimes, conservative Texas had only 190 with almost 30 million Americans covered in the reporting area.
While some Democrat-leaning states seem to have a higher number of hate crimes, higher numbers of hate crimes do not seem to be tied to political leanings. Democrat states California, New York, Washington, Massachusetts, and New Jersey all reported over 300 hate crimes, as did Republican-leaning Kentucky, Michigan, and Ohio.
The states with the lowest number of reported hate crimes were New Mexico and Arkansas with 7, Nevada with 5, Alaska and Wyoming with 4, and Mississippi with 1.
Only when considering the population in each reporting area does California lose its top position, surrendering it to nearby Washington, which has the highest number hate crimes reported per capita. By every other metric, the FBI’s 2017 Hate Crime Statistics paint California as America’s Hate Crime Capital.
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