Hate crime

Hate crime

A hate crime occurs when a person is targeted because of hostility or prejudice towards their:

• disability (or perceived disability)
• race or ethnicity (or perceived race or ethnicity)
• religion or belief (or perceived religion or belief)
• sexual orientation (or perceived sexual orientation)
• gender identity (or perceived gender identity)

A victim does not have to actually be a member of the group at which the hostility is targeted. In fact, anyone could be a victim of a hate crime.

Being a victim of this kind of crime can be a particularly frightening experience as you have been victimised because of who you are, or who your attacker thinks you are.

Hate incidents

Hate incidents can feel like crimes to people who experience them, and often escalate to crimes, however the Police cannot prosecute. You can still report these, however, as the Police can work with other organisations to help prevent them from escalating.