“These findings should be alarming, reflecting the persistence of high levels of hate and our concern that it will continue to grow given the political climate.” Robin Toma, the Executive Director of the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations, offered candid reflection on the new hate crimes report.
The report, presented at a news conference on December 4, 2025, said there were 1,355 reported hate crimes victims in the county during 2024, only a 1% decrease from the prior year.
“To get a sense of the magnitude, that total represents an average of nearly four hate crimes in each day,” Toma noted.
Anti-Black hate crimes were a majority of the reported incidents at 51%, increasing from 325 in 2023 to 345 in 2024. Incidents involving Asian victims decreased from 70 in 2023 to 52 in 2024. Hate crimes in which victims were identified as Latino increased from 2023 to 2024, for a total of 71.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna, who also spoke to the news conference, said any victim who reports a hate crime will not be scrutinized by his agency for their immigration status.
Religious-based hate crimes saw the most Jewish victims, but decreased from 244 to 202 reported incidents, according to county data. Anti-Muslim crimes, which made up the second-largest category, increased from 19 to 21 crimes.
The Middle Eastern community saw a sevenfold increase in hate crimes, the largest rise of any racial category. Crimes that involved language regarding the conflict in the Middle East accounted for 6% of all total incidents reported.
Simple assaults, aggravated assaults and robberies all rose to varying degrees. These crimes, along with vandalism, accounted for 88% of all reported hate crimes.
Authorities feel that hate crimes continuing locally at such historic rates can be at least partially attributed to improved reporting, along with improved working connections between law enforcement agencies, and organizations like LA vs. Hate and 211LA.
Judith Martin-Straw
