Anti-Disability Hate Crime Reports Spike Nationally

Anti-disability hate crime reports rose by 68% nationally in 2017, but there were almost no reports in California, the FBI reported last week.

So how on earth can we suspect that this is at least partly good news for the United States but bad news for California?

Yes, you read that right. It might – might – be partly good news that the reports of hate crimes against people with disabilities were way up nationally, and bad news that the reports remained almost non-existent in California.

Strange as that sounds, it’s because we know that reports of anti-disability hate crimes, in California and throughout the United States, grossly under-state the actual number of these hate crimes. While all hate crimes are under-reported, anti-disability hate crimes – sometime called “the invisible hate crimes” – are probably the most under-reported according to U.S. Department of Justice studies.

The national spike may be at least partly due to more law enforcement agencies around the country finally starting to report hate crimes to the FBI in 2017. There is no law requiring agencies to report to the FBI, but more reported their 2017 stats than ever before.

In California, on the other hand, all law enforcement agencies are required to report hate crime statistics to the state, which analyzes and publishes them and passes them on to the FBI. The tiny number of anti-disability crime reported here may reflect police inattention to anti-disability hate crimes. A state performance audit of law enforcement agencies released this year found law enforcement agencies’ response to hate crimes generally – including reporting them – to be inadequate.

Under-reporting isn’t just a statistical problem. It’s a law enforcement problem. Without a report, there is no investigation of whether a particular crime was a hate crime. The criminals are convicted of lesser crimes, if they are even arrested and convicted at all.

The new FBI stats show all hate crime reports up nationally in 2017. They were up 17% over 2016 totals, representing the first consecutive three-year annual increase and the largest single-year increase since 2001, when hate crimes targeting Arab-Americans and American Muslims, and those perceived to be Arab or Muslim, surged in the aftermath of 9/11.

Researchers are certain the 2017 numbers at least partly reflect actual increases in hate crimes against African Americans, Latinos, gays, lesbians, transgender people, Jews, Muslims, and people like Sikhs mistaken for Muslims; all partly due to the climate of fear and hostility sparked by inflammatory rhetoric nationally. In this climate, it’s predictable that the hate would boil over into attacks on a lot of other people too, including people with disabilities.

In California, overall hate crime reports were up 17% over 2016. But there were only four – 4 – anti-disability hate crimes reported all year.

Here are just a couple more statistics before I get to the genuinely good news about what we are doing about all this in California.

How bad is the national under-reporting of anti-disability hate crimes? The 2016 U.S. Department of Justice study I mentioned surveyed victims and estimated that there are about 40,000 anti-disability hate crimes every year. Most are never even reported to police, while police miss most of those that are reported. 2017 was the first year that reports to the FBI broke 100, specifically 128 nationally.

I’ll repeat that for emphasis for people like me whose eyes can glaze over with too many numbers:

40,000 hate crimes against people with disabilities every year. Just 128 of them reported to the FBI. Oh, and just 4 in California.

Now the clearly good news.

The Arc in Washington, D.C., and The Arc California here in Sacramento have emerged as the leading advocacy organizations fighting anti-disability hate crimes.

Here’s an August article from the Southern Poverty Law Center on anti-disability hate crimes, highlighting some of The Arc’s national work.

In California, we coordinate a statewide coalition of civil rights groups on hate crimes. The groups include the Anti-Defamation League, California Association of Human Relations Organizations, California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls, California Council of Churches, California Supported Living Network, Council on American-Islamic Relations, Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, Equality California, LA County Commission on Human Relations, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, NAACP, National Organization for Women, Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Sikh Coalition, and State Council on Developmental Disabilities.

Our leadership role helps insure that anti-disability hate crimes are included in everything the coalition does.

In the last year and a half, after years of sometimes painfully slow progress, we’ve had these major successes:

• We and some of the other civil rights groups sponsored the request for the California State Auditor’s performance audit of law enforcement agencies’ and the California Department of Justice’s response to hate crimes. Assemblymembers Kansen Chu and Al Muratsuchi got the audit approved for us by the Joint Legislative Audit Committee, where the vote was bipartisan and unanimous.
• The highly critical audit report in May (search for “hate crimes”) has already prompted law enforcement agencies’ and Attorney General Xavier Becerra to take immediate corrective steps, with more to come.
• The Arc and Equality California sponsored Assembly Bill 1985 by Assemblymember Philip Ting to compel law enforcement agencies to adopt policies guiding their officers’ enforcement of the hate crime law. The Legislature passed the bill on a bipartisan, unanimous vote and Governor Brown signed it into law. The successful bill includes specifics on how officers are to recognize and respond to anti-disability hate crimes.
• The civil rights coalition asked for and got $45,000 in the state budget to have the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) develop a model hate crimes policy that law enforcement agencies can adopt to comply with AB 1985.
• POST is proceeding diligently to develop the model hate crimes policy, with final approval expected at the POST commission meeting in May. I and some other civil rights groups’ and law enforcement agencies’ representatives serve as subject-matter experts advising POST staff, who have been highly cooperative and professional. I’m confident the policy will lead to real changes in law enforcement agencies’ approach to hate crimes, including those against people with disabilities.
• Attorney General Becerra sent seven high-ranking staff this month to meet for two hours with most of the civil rights groups, to discuss next steps on hate crimes. We will be talking with them more soon about specifics of seeking a 2019-20 budget augmentation to carry out the audit’s recommendations and other steps.
• We are working with the California District Attorneys Association to develop information for prosecutors on AB 1985 and how they can use it to convict more perpetrators.
• We have asked POST for its other hate crime training materials to evaluate whether they need updating.
• We and some of the other civil rights groups have started talking to legislators about more potential legislation in 2019. Stay tuned.

Greg DeGiere, Civil Rights Coordinator, The Arc of California