The Ralph and Goldy Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies

Research on the relationship between community race/ethnic and economic change and the base rates of hate crimes has been rarely studied in the social sciences. The present study examined the role of race/ethnic and economic change in Los Angeles between 1990 and 2000 to determine their relationship to hate crime occurrence. Data collected from Los Angeles hate crime reports, including victim and offender race/ethnicity, the level of severity, and the level of bias, were combined with census data for the 1990 and 2000 censuses for race/ethnic and economic change in the corresponding census tract in which the hate crime/incident occurred. No relationship was found between economic change and hate crimes. While differences among victim race/ethnicity (White, African American, and Hispanic) and their corresponding race/ethnic change (decreasing, stable, or increasing) were largely not significant, there were significant differences between African American and White offenders and their corresponding change in race/ethnic population.