Hate crime not only harms its victims, it also harms their families and communities.
The government is committed to tackling hate crime. We want to raise awareness of what a hate crime is and help people understand that it is not right to target individuals based on their identity.
A hate crime is any criminal offence which is perceived by the victim, or anybody else, to be motivated by hostility or prejudice towards someone’s:
- race
- religion
- sexual orientation
- transgender identity
- disability
These aspects are known as ‘protected characteristics’.
A hate crime can include verbal abuse, intimidation, threats, harassment, assault and damage to property.
A hate incident is behaviour which isn’t a crime but which is perceived by the victim, or anybody else, to be motivated by hostility or prejudice based on the 5 protected characteristics.
