CPS Hate Crime Policies

Picture of CPS Hate Crime Policy leaflets

Domestic Violence

Homophobic and transphobic crime

Racist and Religious crime

Disability hate crime

Disability hate crime easy read version

CPS policy on Crimes against older people   

Honour Crime Leaflet

Download the 'Love, Honour & Obey' leaflet

Our Hate Crime Scrutiny Panels

As part of our commitment to be open and transparent with our communities and work with them to understand and meet their needs we have set up panels of independent community members who look at real cases we have recently prosecuted to advise us on how we can improve the way we do things.

These panels are made up of local people with experience of supporting hate crime victims, who look closely at past hate crime prosecutions to see if anything about them could have been done better.

Feedback from the panels can be positive or negative, and recommendations are used by CPS prosecutors to inform the way they deal with future cases.

Find out more about the panel in Staffordshire

Find out more about the panels in West Mercia

Home » Hate Crime

Hate Crime

Hate crime includes offences relating to

  • Race
  • Religion
  • Sexual orientation
  • Sexuality and gender identity
  • Disability
  • Domestic violence
  • Violence against women
  • Crimes against the older person

They all have one thing in common - they are motivated by hate or prejudice and can often make the crime even more distressing.

Did you know that ...

If the courts decide that the accused person showed hostility or was motivated by hostility towards the victim of the crime because of their race, religion,sexuality, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability they can impose a greater sentence than otherwise would have been given?

For example, a racially aggravated wounding offence in the Crown Court could earn a sentence of 7 years as opposed to one without the racial element which would be a maximum of 5 years. We have designated prosecutors for each type of hate crime who are specialists in that type of crime.

Our witness care officers can put you in touch with organisations who can support you.The Police can take action to see that you are protected if you are intimidated as a result of reporting a crime.

We work with local organisations who represent communities affected by hate crime to seek better ways of supporting victims.