LOS ANGELES >> Reported hate crimes in Los Angeles County increased by 1 percent in 2014 from the previous year, marking the second-lowest total in 25 years, the county Commission on Human Relations announced Thursday.
According to its annual report -- which defines a hate crime as one in which hatred or prejudice toward a victim's race or ethnicity, religion, disability, gender or sexual orientation was a substantial factor -- there were 389 reported hate crimes countywide last year, an increase of five cases from 2013, which had the lowest reported cases in 25 years.