Hate Crime

Hate crimes and hate incidents

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.

If you’ve been the victim of verbal abuse, talk to the police or one of our partner organisations about what has happened.  You can report online here

There are charities, groups and organisations below who 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.