Anti-Trans Hate Crimes In Los Angeles At All-Time High
Image: Source: Kat Wilcox on Pexels
A new report from Los Angeles County has shown that the number of hate crimes in 2023 was up 45% from 2022 with 1,350 reported incidents, and trans people in particular experienced a huge surge in reported crimes.
The 2023 Los Angeles County Hate Crime report found that there were 99 anti-trans hate crimes throughout the city last year, marking a significant 125% increase from 2022. 75 of the victims were trans women and 12 were trans men, with additional reported crimes from 5 cisgender men, 4 cisgender women and 3 non-binary people.
Furthermore, a staggering 97% of these recorded incidents were violent crimes, a rate up from 91% in 2022. Simple assault was the most common at 48% of the recorded crimes, with aggravated assault, intimidation and robbery following behind. Three attempted murders were also recorded. Additionally, the report showed that 58% of these crimes took place in public places, rising from 21 in 2022 to 57 in 2023.
The rise in anti-trans hate crimes in Los Angeles coincides with a massive spike in all kinds of hate crimes across the board in 2023. Other members of the LGBTQI+ community also suffered greatly, with sexual orientation hate crimes also increasing by 32% across the board since 2022.
Gay men were overwhelmingly the victims in these crimes, making up 73% of reported incidents. A number of crimes targeting “LGBT” without any targeted sexual orientation increased from 10 to 47 – a huge 370% increase from the year prior.
Los Angeles hate crimes up overall
Racial and religious hate crimes also increased across the board. Jewish people were especially targeted in the surge of 242 religious hate crimes reported in LA County, which is the highest number ever reported in the area. African Americans reported the most racial hate crimes with 320 reports, and other groups such as Asians and Latinos also saw increases in the number of reported incidents.
The report mentions that part of the reason for record-setting levels of hate crimes throughout Los Angeles is in part thanks to people being more willing to report human rights violations, while also citing the social reasons for these crimes.
