LA County Reports 76% Increase in Anti-Asian Hate Crimes in 2020

That is the largest total since 9/11

The Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations (LACCHR) Oct. 20, released a special report on anti-Asian hate crime in LA County in 2020. Since 1980, LACCHR collects and reports hate crime data submitted by law enforcement agencies, educational institutions, and community-based organizations. The report revealed that anti-Asian hate crimes rose 76% from 25 to 44 in 2020. This is the largest number of anti-Asian hate crimes reported since 2001.

View the 2020 anti-Asian Hate Crime Report here. 

LA County’s annual Hate Crime Report, which will encompass all reported hate crimes in LA County, will be released in November.

Supervisor Hahn said the report is disturbing but, unfortunately, not surprising and the escalation of attacks against the AAPI community is taking a toll on residents. She noted she has heard from residents who are afraid to walk alone, or go to the grocery store, or even leave their homes. 

The AAPI community needs to know that they are not alone. We are united in supporting them and addressing these attacks,” Hahn said.

Otto Solórzano, Acting Director of the LA County Department of Workforce Development, Aging and Community Services said that with hate crimes likely to be underreported, the department knows that the actual number of hate crimes is higher than it’s able to report. 

If you experience a hate crime or hate act, call 211 or go to www.LAvsHate.org to receive assistance.

Significant findings include the following:

• Specific Asian nationalities and ethnicities were the targets of hate. Most slurs were anti-Chinese, but anti-Japanese and anti-Asian Indian hate crimes also occurred. Among the victims were people of Korean, Taiwanese, Vietnamese, and Guatemalan ethnicity.
• In 10 of the anti-Asian hate crimes (23%), the suspects explicitly blamed the victims for COVID-19.
• The rate of hate-related violence in 2019 (76%) and 2020 (77%) was significantly higher compared to prior years.
• The median age of victims increased from 30 to 41. Half of the victims were over 40, including two seniors. In 2019, there were no victims of hate crimes over 40.
• There was a tripling in the number of female victims of anti-Asian hate crime compared to the previous year, rising to nearly half of all victims
• In cases in which the race of the suspect was known, Whites comprised 42% of anti-Asian hate crime suspects. This was followed by Latino/a (36%) suspects and African American (19%) suspects.

What Can You Do?

In response to the rise in hate, the Board of Supervisors directed LACCHR to develop an initiative to prevent and respond to hate incidents in the County, which resulted in “L.A. vs Hate.” The initiative has three components: (1) a community-driven public engagement campaign to encourage residents and organizations to unite against and report acts of hate; (2) the first government hotline (via 211) for reporting acts of hate and providing assistance to hate victims; and (3) a network of community agencies that provide hate prevention and rapid response services. 

Since launching in June 2020, “L.A. vs Hate” content has been viewed over 468 million times and has been shared over 88 million times. Since September 2019, when L.A. vs. Hate and 211 began accepting calls to report hate, L.A. vs. Hate has received more than 1,400 reports of hate acts.

For more information on the “L.A. vs Hate” initiative, including shareable graphics ready-made for social media, please click here, www.lavshate.org