Prosecutions

The District Attorney's Office prosecutes the great majority of hate crimes in Los Angeles County . In 2006, law enforcement authorities referred 152 hate crimes to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, which filed charges in 129 (85%) of these cases, 13 more than the previous year. Adults were charged in 69 of these cases, and juveniles in 60. 82% of adult crimes were motivated by race/ethnicity, 9% by sexual orientation, 7% by religion, and 2% by disability. 12 hate crimes were referred to the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office in 2006, which filed 4 cases as hate crimes and 2 as crimes without hate crime enhancements.

The U.S. Attorney's Office, which is responsible for prosecuting federal offenses, tried two hate crimes in 2006. In the first case, United States v. Tony Razani, the defendant was charged with transmitting a threatening communication in interstate commerce, specifically, for sending a threatening e-mail to an Arab-American woman in Texas . The e-mail contained explicit threats to physically harm her and numerous derogatory references to the victim's ethnicity. The defendant pled guilty to the indictment and was sentenced to six months home detention and three years probation.

In the second case, the U.S. Attorney successfully prosecuted four members of the Highland Park-based Avenues gang for a series of anti-black attacks, including several murders that occurred in 1999 and 2000. All four defendants were convicted and sentenced to life sentences without the possibility of parole.