Types of Hate Crime
Race
Racism is the word used to describe a complex series of attitudes, actions and words, which discriminate against people on the basis of their skin colour, country of origin, religion or nationality. This discrimination can be conscious or subconscious, intentional or unintentional, but is undoubtedly present in many different areas of social interaction. There is legislation that protects victims of crime where the offender is motivated by hostility or hatred towards the victim’s race or religious beliefs (actual or perceived), including the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, the Public Order Act 1986 Part III, and the Equality Act 2010. The Race Relations Act recognises Gypsies and Travellers as specific racial groups, i.e. Romany Gypsies and Irish Travellers, and those other Gypsies and Travellers who are ethnic or national in origin and could come within the definition of a racial group. In 2023/24 there were 98,799 racist hate crime incidents recorded by the police service in England and Wales, compared with 103,625 in the previous reporting year.
Religion
Religious hate crimes and non-crime incidents are acts which target a victim because of the offender's hostility towards them or a group based on their faith, or lack of one. The law does not protect our beliefs themselves, but it is based in human rights, meaning that we all have a right to hold our beliefs and to practice our faith in safety. The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 was amended by the Anti-Terrorism Crime and Security Act 2001, which extended the scope of the Crime and Disorder Act by creating specific religiously aggravated offences and applying the same sentencing duty to all other offences where there is evidence of religious aggravation. It is illegal to say anything or produce something to commit a criminal offence against another race or group of people. This means that leaflets, flyers or speeches that promote crime against people because of their religion is against the law. This is called incitement to religious hatred. There were 10,484 religious hate crimes reported by the police in England and Wales in the 2023/24 reporting year, which was more than in any other reporting year.
Sexuality
If someone is violent or hostile towards another person because of their sexual orientation, this is known as a homophobic hate incident. This is any incident that is perceived by the victim or any other person to be motivated by a hostility or prejudice based on a person’s actual or perceived sexual orientation. Section 74 and Schedule 16 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 amends part 3A of the Public Order Act 1986, to create offences of intentionally stirring up hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation. The provisions came into force on 23 March 2010. Despite significant progress towards securing legislative equality, many of the 3.6 million lesbian and gay people in Britain still live in fear of homophobic hate crime. There were 22,839 sexual orientation hate crimes reported by the police in England and Wales in the 2023/24 reporting year, compared with 24,777 in the previous year, with offences for this type of hate crime peaking in 2021/22, at 26,152.
Disability
Disability hate crimes and non-crime incidents are acts which target a victim because of the offender's hostility to a disabled person or disabled people in general. Any incident or crime which is perceived by the victim to be a disability hate crime will be recorded as such. Examples of hostility might include: abuse; name calling; blocking aisles and priority seating; removing equipment or even violence. These are often different from other hate offences in that these might be perpetrated by friends, family members or carers. In April 2005, the law was changed by Section 146 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 (CJA). Section 146 did not create any new offences; it imposed a duty upon courts to increase the sentence for any offence (for example, assault or criminal damage) aggravated by hostility based on the victim’s disability (or presumed disability). In England and Wales there were 11,719 police recorded disability hate crime incidents in the 2023/24 reporting year, compared with 14,285 in the previous year.
Gender identity
What is ‘Gender Identity’? The Oxford Dictionary definition of this is ‘a person’s perception of having a particular gender, which may or may not correspond with their birth sex.’ Transphobia is intolerance of gender diversity. It is based on the idea that there are only two sexes – male or female, which you stay in from birth. And furthermore, that people who fit gender stereotypes (by sounding, looking or behaving like men and women are ‘supposed to’) are somehow better than those who don’t. Trans people and people with a transsexual history can also experience homophobia, because the abuser often neither knows nor cares how a person identifies, just that they are different in some way. The number of hate crimes committed against transgender people in England and Wales has increased in recent years, reaching 4,732 offences in 2022/23, and 4,780 offences in 2023/24. The Equality Act 2010 provides extra protection for transgender people who are treated unequally, both in the workplace and whenever you access goods, services, housing and facilities.