Hate crime

Hate crime is any criminal offence committed against a person or property that is motivated by hostility towards someone based on their disability, race, religion, gender identity or sexual orientation.

The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and the Crown Prosecution Service have a nationally agreed definition of Hate Crime. Hate crimes are taken to mean any crime where the perpetrator's hostility or prejudice against an identifiable group of people is a factor in determining who is victimised. This is a broad and inclusive definition. A victim does not have to be a member of the group. In fact, anyone could be a victim of a hate crime.

The CPS and ACPO have agreed 5 monitored strands of hate crime as set out below.

Hate crime

A hate crime is any criminal offence that is motivated by hostility or prejudice based upon the victim's:

• disability
• race
• religion or belief
• sexual orientation
• transgender identity

Hate crime can take many forms including:

• physical attacks such as physical assault, damage to property, offensive graffiti and arson
• threat of attack including offensive letters, abusive or obscene telephone calls, groups hanging around to intimidate, and unfounded, malicious complaints
• verbal abuse, insults or harassment - taunting, offensive leaflets and posters, abusive gestures, dumping of rubbish outside homes or through letterboxes, and bullying at school or in the workplace .

What is racist hate crime?

Any criminal offence which is perceived, by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by a hostility or prejudice based on a person's race or perceived race.

What is religious hate crime?

Any criminal offence which is perceived, by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by a hostility or prejudice based on a person's religion or perceived religion.

Certain offences, including assault, harassment, criminal damage and public order offences can be prosecuted specifically as racially or religiously aggravated offences. The defendant faces a harsher sentence than if he or she were found guilty of a non-racial or religious crime.

What is homophobic crime?

Any criminal offence which is perceived, by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by a hostility or prejudice based on a person's sexual orientation or perceived sexual orientation.

What is transphobic crime?

Any criminal offence which is perceived, by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by a hostility or prejudice against a person who is transgender or perceived to be transgender.

What is disability hate crime?

Any criminal offence which is perceived, by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by a hostility or prejudice based on a person's disability or perceived disability.

What about getting a sentence increase for hate crimes?

The police and CPS hate crime flags are applied when someone, whether they are the victim, witness, police officer, prosecutor, or any other person, thinks that a crime is a hate crime. This ensures that we apply our policies and handle cases appropriately. However, in order for the court to accept that an offence is a hate crime, there must be sufficient evidence of hostility based on the above factors presented to it at the sentencing stage.

Where there is sufficient evidence, sections 145 and 146 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 provide that where an offence is motivated by hostility based on religion or perceived religion, ethnicity or perceived ethnicity (section 145), disability or perceived disability, or sexual orientation or perceived sexual orientation (section 146), the court must state this as an aggravating factor at the sentencing stage.

Please note that there are no statutory provisions that relate to crimes based on hostility towards gender identity.

What about crimes against older people?

We are committed to taking into account age equality issues in all our prosecution policies. Negative attitudes towards older people can be widespread in our society and these may be reflected in organizations that care for older people, whether in a domestic setting or in institutions. We are determined to play our part in challenging this.

Our policy on crimes against older people recognises that older people can be victims of crime in a number of circumstances and settings, including being targeted based on hostility towards age.