The California Attorney General's office says that more gay and Jewish people were the victims of hate crimes last year even though the overall number of bias-related crimes declined slightly.
A report released Friday showed that in 2008 there were 1,397 crimes motivated by racial, religious and other forms of bias, a 2% drop from a year earlier.
More than half were based on a victim's race or ethnicity and of these, the vast majority were directed against black people.
Hate crimes based on religious bias were the second most common.
In 2008, there were 184 assaults, threats, and other crimes directed at Jews, a 37% increase from the year before.
Incidents targeting gays and lesbians rose by 28%, from 344 to 440.