Every year, thousands of bias-motivated acts, commonly-referred to as "hate crimes" or "hate incidents" are committed across America.1 Generally speaking, any criminal act motivated by a specific bias against a victim's actual or perceived protected characteristic is a hate crime. A bias-motivated act that does not rise to the level of a crime is called a "hate incident." Hate crimes are prosecuted by city attorneys and district attorneys under California's penal code, while hate incidents can be the subject of civil lawsuits under California's civil code.
Many organizations provide publications and services focused on the prevention of discrimination and hate crimes in our communities. The following is a partial list of reports and organizations designed to serve as an informational service only. Listing here is not an endorsement of the organization or its web page content.
1See 2012 Hate Crime Statistics: Hate Crime by Jurisdiction (2013) Federal Bureau of Investigation,
https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/hate-crime/2012/topic-pages/jurisdiction/jurisdiction_final(as of June 17, 2014).