Treading Carefully. Examining the Data on Racism

Treading carefully here.

I’m a data guy so I wanted to know what the data says about race. Let’s look at hate crimes:

California is the most populous state in the country (and most diverse) and they have very broad hate crimes statues. But look what has happened since 2001:

We’ve seen an uptick in reports over the last few years but we’re talking a few dozen incidents in difference. 241 hate crimes against blacks in 2014 vs. 276 in 2018. And when you break out the type of crimes nearly 30% are property crimes with hate crime statutes triggered.

When you follow these crimes through the system the impact is not what I expected.

In 2018: 1,237 hate crimes reported.
- 838 violent hate crime offenses & 426 property
- 425 went to prosecution
- 314 cases were filed
- 228 continued as hate crimes
- and just 67 convictions

I’m perfectly willing to hear arguments that justice wasn’t served or that convictions are difficult with these statutes but…