Hate crimes drop 20 percent in California in 2009

LOS ANGELES – Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. released an “encouraging” 2009 annual report last week showing that hate crimes in California fell by more than 20 percent last year, but he warned that, “we are still a long way from ending bigotry and prejudice.”

“While the drop in these crimes is encouraging,” Brown said, “hate has certainly not been banished from California. The sheer total of incidents motivated by hate is a reminder of how much harder we need to work to overcome prejudice, bigotry and ignorance.”

The Attorney General’s report, “Hate Crime in California 2009” was co...