Hate Crimes Increase In California: FBI

CALIFORNIA -- Hate crimes in California increased in 2016 to 931 reported incidents, the number is up from 2015 when 837 crimes were reported, according to the statistics released this week by the FBI. Nationally, there were more than 6,000 hate crimes reported.

Of the more than 6,000 crimes reported, 57.5 percent were motivated by race or ethnicity, 21 percent were motivated by religion, 17.7 percent were motivated by sexual orientation, and other incidents were motivated by gender or disability, according to the FBI.

More than 7,600 people were victims of hate crimes during 2016, while "2,813 were victims of crimes against property, and 82 were victims of hate crimes categorized as crimes against society," according to the agency.

The report by the agency's Uniform Crime Reporting said that most hate crimes took place near homes or roadways.

"The remaining incidents were perpetrated at a variety of other locations, including schools and houses of worship, commercial and government buildings, restaurants and nightclubs, parking lots and garages, playgrounds and parks, and even medical facilities," according to the report.

The annual report includes data from more than 15,000 law enforcement agencies across the country with 733 in the Golden State.

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