Orange County saw surge in Asian, LGBTQ hate crimes in 2021

Orange County saw a jump last year in racially-charged hate crimes and incidents, even though the total number went down slightly over 2020, according to a report issued by the OC Human Relations Commission.

The county recorded 398 hate crimes and incidents in 2021, including 97 hate crimes and 301 incidents that fell short of criminal charges. In 2020, more hate crimes were reported in Orange County at 112, and fewer incidents at 263. In all, the numbers represented a 6% increase in hate crimes and incidents over 2020.

And while those numbers seem to maintain the status quo, historically, hate crimes are way up in Orange County, which has seen hate activity go up 165% compared to five years ago.

Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer called the results of the 2021 report "distressing," noting that hate-motivated behavior and incidents in Orange County have steadily increased, skyrocketing 424% over the past 10 years.

"This is despicable," Spitzer said in a statement. 

Of the hate crimes, 56% were race related, while 21% were motived by religion, and 23% were due to sexual orientation. Of the hate incidents reported, most of the offensive behavior was due to race at 65%, but 29% targeted religion.

The majority of hate incident victims were of Asian descent, with 51% falling into that category. The report found 10 of the reported hate crimes in 2021 were anti-Asian/Pacific Islander, a 43% increase from 2020. Hate incidents against Asian/Pacific Islanders that did not meet the standards of criminal charges were even higher – 153 were reported in 2021, a 164% spike from the previous year.

Hate crimes against gay and LGBTQ people also jumped in 2021 – the report found 22 in that category were motivated by sexual orientation bias, an 83% surge from 2020.