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Last year we led California’s civil rights groups in asking the Legislature to order a performance audit of state and local agencies enforcement of the hate crime laws.
Anti-disability hate crimes – the most under-reported category of hate crimes – are our principal concern. But any improvement in overall hate crimes law enforcement will help people with disabilities along with all other hater crime victims.
The Legislature approved the audit, thanks to the efforts of Assemblymember Kansen Chu, and the state auditor issued her report last week.
It’s worse than I thought.
Here’s one of the major new stories on the audit report:
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/california/articles/2018-05-31/state-auditors-say-california-underreports-hate-crimes
The state auditor’s report starkly reveals much of the inadequacy of California’s law enforcement system in protecting Californians from hate crimes. It provides the core of an agenda for progress for all parties to follow.
However, the audit did not look particularly at anti-disability hate crimes. In 2016, official state statistics reported only two such crimes, a figure we know from experience is grossly low.
In addition to supporting the audit report’s recommendations, we are calling on the Legislature, Governor Brown, Attorney General Becerra, and all law enforcement agencies to pay attention to the special problems inherent in hate crimes against people with disabilities.
In the coming days and months, we’ll continue to work with the other civil rights groups to fight hate crimes and speak out in particular for people with disabilities.
Here is the full audit report and supplemental information:
Greg DeGiere, Civil Rights Coordinator, the Arc of California