SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) – California’s new attorney general is promising an increased focus on hate crimes. Rob Bonta says there is “a state of crisis” because of increases in attacks on Asian Americans since the coronavirus entered the U.S. after originating in China.
On Tuesday, he announced a new Racial Justice Bureau within his California Department of Justice.
He says he will hold a virtual meeting with the mayors of the state’s 13 largest cities later this month to discuss hate crime.
He says about half of hate crimes go unreported.
They are difficult to prosecute because there must be something to show they are driven by racial or other discrimination.
