The Central Park Jogger wasn’t attacked by the five who were convicted. They were released after DNA cleared them all and implicated a guy already serving life in prison for other assults. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trisha_Meili
So they’re reasons for never classifying it as a hate crime, was possibly based on the very sketchy details that got the kids convicted in the first place. It wasn’t a hate crime.
Despite the analysis conducted by the District Attorney’s office, New York City detectives maintained that the defendants had “most likely” been Reyes’ accomplices in the assault and rape of Meili.[12] Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly complained that Morgenthau’s staff had denied his detectives access to “important evidence” needed to conduct a thorough investigation.[11] This claim notwithstanding, no indictments, convictions or disciplinary actions were ever taken against District Attorney’s office staff members. All of the defendants had completed their prison sentences at the time of Tejada’s order, which only had the effect of clearing their names. However one defendant, Santana, remained in jail, convicted of a later, unrelated crime, although his attorney said that his sentence in that case had been extended because of his conviction in the Meili attack.