Hate crime

A hate crime is defined as:

‘Any incident which constitutes a criminal offence which is perceived by the victim or any other person as being motivated by prejudice or hate.’

Source: Home Office Definition, 2007

What is Hate Crime?

Hate crime can be any crime based on what makes us different, whether that is our race, culture, faith, colour of skin, age, gender, sexual orientation or disability.

A hate crime can include:

Physical assault and violence - including sexual violence
Harassment
Threats of violence
Damage to property
Neighbour disputes
Verbal abuse
People doing things that frighten, intimidate or distress you
Bullying at school, college or place of work
Arson
Spitting or making insulting gestures

Why Report it?

It is important to report a hate crime because it doesn’t just affect the victim, it can have an impact on the victim’s family, friends and associates, people who may have witnessed the offence and indeed on entire communities.

If you do not report a crime or incident, offenders may commit similar offences again. Your report may stop someone else becoming a victim.

Reporting incidents provides valuable information which may contribute to the arrest and/or prosecution of the offender/s. Reporting enables us to build up patterns of behaviour and this information can be used to set up projects to combat hate crime in local areas. Any information you give will help us build up our knowledge. Names, addresses or descriptions of people who commit hate crime help us to target offenders and stop the abuse.

No matter how trivial you think the incident is, if you perceive the motivation behind the incident to be your race or religious belief, sexual orientation, age, disability or your sex, please tell us about it.

Read our Hate Crime help and advice leaflet for more advice.

What action can be taken?

Working in partnership with local agencies together we can stamp out Hate Crime by taking action against perpetrators as well as supporting victims/witnesses.

Types of actions that can be taken include:

Providing extra home security for victims
Increasing regular patrols in areas
Advice and support for victims
Removal of offensive graffiti
Early intervention work with perpetrators to prevent their behaviour escalating or becoming more serious
Enforcement of tenancy agreements with perpetrators
Prosecution of serious offenders