What is a Hate Crime?
A hate crime is when someone commits a crime against you because of your disability, gender identity, race, sexual orientation, religion, or any other perceived difference.
It doesn’t always include physical violence. Someone using offensive language towards you or harassing you because of who you are, or who they think you are, is also a crime. The same goes for someone posting abusive or offensive messages about you online.
If it happens to you, you might be tempted to shrug it off but if you report it to the Police then they can investigate and stop it from getting worse – either for you or someone else.
In most crimes it is something the victim has in their possession or control that motivates the offender to commit the crime. With hate crime it is ‘who’ the victim is, or ‘what’ the victim appears to be that motivates the offender to commit the crime.
A hate crime is defined as 'Any criminal offence which is perceived by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by hostility or prejudice based on a person's race or perceived race; religion or perceived religion; sexual orientation or perceived sexual orientation; disability or perceived disability and any crime motivated by hostility or prejudice against a person who is transgender or perceived to be transgender.'
A hate incident is any incident which the victim, or anyone else, thinks is based on someone’s prejudice towards them because of their race, religion, sexual orientation, disability or because they are transgender.
Not all hate incidents will amount to criminal offences, but it is equally important that these are reported and recorded by the police.
Evidence of the hate element is not a requirement. You do not need to personally perceive the incident to be hate related. It would be enough if another person, a witness or even a police officer thought that the incident was hate related.
Types of hate crime
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Physical assault. Physical assault of any kind is an offence. Depending on the level of the violence used, a perpetrator may be charged with common assault, actual bodily harm or grievous bodily harm.
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Verbal abuse. Verbal abuse, threats or name-calling can be a common and extremely unpleasant experience. There are laws in place to protect you from verbal abuse. Even if you don’t know who verbally abused you, the information could still help to improve how the area is policed where the abuse took place.
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Incitement to hatred. This is when someone acts in a way that is threatening and intended to stir up hatred. That could be in words, pictures, videos, music, and includes information posted on websites.
Hate content may include:
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Messages calling for violence against a specific person or group
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Web pages that show pictures, videos or descriptions of violence against anyone due to their perceived differences
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Chat forums where people ask other people to commit hate crimes against a specific person or group
How to get help and report a Hate Crime (True Vision)
True Vision is a national police scheme to help victims of hate crime report the incident and get the help and advice they need. Wherever you are in the UK, if you’ve witnessed or been the victim of hate crime you can report it using the True Vision online or downloadable form. Visit report-it.org.uk to find out more.
Thames Valley Police have further information on how to report a hate crime.
Other useful links
We understand that you may not be ready to talk to us about what has happened. The charities, groups and organisations below can offer support, advice and ways to report the incident without having to talk directly to the police.
Crimestoppers
A national charity with a free helpline for reporting crime anonymously.
Tell MAMA
A national project supporting victims of anti-Muslim hate and monitoring anti-Muslim incidents.
Community Security Trust (CST)
A charity protecting British Jews from antisemitism and related threats.
Galop
A national charity providing advice and support to members of the LGBT community.