Hate Crime
What is Hate Crime?
The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and the Crown Prosecution Service have a nationally agreed definition of Hate Crime. Hate crimes are taken to mean:
Any crime where the perpetrator's hostility or prejudice against an identifiable group of people is a factor in determining who is victimised.
This is a broad and inclusive definition. A victim does not have to be a member of the group. In fact, anyone could be a victim of a hate crime.There are 5 monitored strands of Hate Crime based upon the victim's:
- Disability
- Race
- Religion or belief
- Sexual orientation
- Transgender identity
Hate crime can take many forms including:
- Physical attacks such as physical assault, damage to property, offensive graffiti and arson
- Threat of attack including offensive letters, abusive or obscene telephone calls, groups hanging around to intimidate, and unfounded, malicious complaints
- Verbal abuse, insults or harassment - taunting, offensive leaflets and posters, abusive gestures, dumping of rubbish outside homes or through letterboxes, and bullying at school or in the workplace .
Why is Hate Crime so important?
All Hate Crime is important. No Hate Crime is too minor to report. Anyone can be the victim of a Hate Crime. We all have a racial identity, all have a sexual orientation, all have some sort of belief. .Any one of us could be targeted because of some aspect of our identity. Tackling Hate Crime supports each and every one of us. Hate Crime is different to other forms of crime. It targets people because of their identity. It is a form of discrimination that infringes human rights and keeps people from enjoying the full benefits of our society. Research has shown that hate crimes cause greater psychological harm than similar crimes without a motivation of prejudice. Hate Crime creates fear in victims, groups and communities and encourages communities to turn on each other.
How Hate Crime affects people
The effects of Hate Crime vary, but often include anger and fear of repeat attacks; depression and a worsening of existing health conditions; including mental health issues. Hate Crime might result in a financial burden, for example, having to replace and repair vandalised property, or having to take time off work, victims changing their personal appearance, accommodation and/or daily patterns to avoid being victimised.
What to do if you are a Victims of Hate Crime?
We understand that it is sometimes difficult to go to the police about Hate Crime, but is important that it is reported, even anonymously. If you are a victim of Hate Crime or know someone who is, there are various support agencies in place to support and offer guidance including the Citizens Advice Bureau, Victim Support and through us at JUST Lincolnshire.
JUST Lincolnshire has helped to develop a county wide Hate Crime Strategy in partnership with other organisations, that will provide a single pathway to make it easier for victims to report hate crime in person, or anonymously,
Copies of the strategy document are attached below and came into operation w.e.f 1st of October 2010.
How to Report Hate Crime?
You can report Hate Crime openly or anonymously in several ways:
- Report Hate Crime direct to Lincolnshire Police
- In person at any police station.
- In person to any police officer.
- By post to any police station
- By telephone to 0300 111 0300 (in an emergency always call 999)
- Online to http://www.lincs.police.uk
- Anonymously through Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111
Report Hate Crime anonymously or openly to Stop Hate UK
- By Phone on 0800 138 1625
- With text relay for deaf or hearing impared on 18001 0800 138 1625
- By text on 07717 989025
- By E-Mail at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
- Chat on the web at http://www.stophateuk.org/talk
- With a form available at http://www.stophateuk.org/tell
- By post to Stop Hate UK, PO Box 484, Leeds, LS7 9BZ
You will soon also be able to report hate crime to 'Third Party Reporting Centres' which will are in the process of being established throughout the county.
If you are not a Lincolnshire resident Hate Crime can also be reported through the True Vision website at http://www.report-it.org.uk/home
Anonymous information about Hate Crime and any other type of crime can also be reported in absolute confidence to the national charity 'Crimestoppers'. Call 0800 555 111 or online at http://www.crimestoppers-uk.org
What difference does it make that an offence is categorised as a Hate Crimes?
Whenever someone, whether they are the victim, witness, police officer, prosecutor, or any other person, thinks that a crime is a Hate Crime this factor is flagged to the court. However, in order for the court to accept that an offence is a hate crime, there must be sufficient evidence of hostility based on the above factors presented to it at the sentencing stage.
Where there is sufficient evidence, sections 145 and 146 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 provide that where an offence is motivated by hostility based on religion or perceived religion, ethnicity or perceived ethnicity (section 145), disability or perceived disability, or sexual orientation or perceived sexual orientation (section 146), the court must state this as an aggravating factor at the sentencing stage and sentences can be more severe than for a similar offence not motivated by hatred.
The Law
There are several specific Acts that cover hate crime offences, including:
- Public Order Act 1986, Part III Incitement to Racial Hatred
- Football Offences Act 1991 (as amended)
- Crime and Disorder Act 1998 (as amended by Anti-terrorism, Crime & Security Act 2001)
- Criminal Justice Act 2003
- Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006
- Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008.
In addition to these Acts, it must be remembered that any criminal offence where the perpetrator's hostility or prejudice against an identifiable group of people is a factor in determining who is victimised becomes a Hate Crime.
What is Religious Hate Crime?
Any criminal offence which is perceived, by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by a hostility or prejudice based on a person's religion or perceived religion.
Certain offences, including assault, harassment, criminal damage and public order offences can be prosecuted specifically as racially or religiously aggravated offences. The defendant faces a harsher sentence than if he or she were found guilty of a non-racial or religious crime.
What is Race related Hate Crime?
Any criminal offence which is perceived, by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by a hostility or prejudice based on a person's race, ethnicity, skin colour, nationality or culture.
A racist incident is any incident which is perceived to be racist by the victim, a witness or any other person. Show Racism the Red Card is an anti-racist charity, which was established in January 1996. It aims to produce anti-racist educational resources, which harness the high profile of professional footballers to combat racism. Check out their website at http://www.srtrc.org. for a wealth of information on racism and the campaign to wipe out racism in football and society.
What is Homophobic Hate Crime?
Any criminal offence which is perceived, by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by a hostility or prejudice based on a person's sexual orientation or perceived sexual orientation.
What is Transphobic Hate Crime?
Any criminal offence which is perceived, by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by a hostility or prejudice against a person who is transgender or perceived to be transgender.
Please note that there are no statutory provisions that relate to crimes based on hostility towards gender identity.
What is disability Hate Crime?
Any criminal offence which is perceived, by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by a hostility or prejudice based on a person's disability or perceived disability.
What about crimes against Older People?
The Police and CPS are committed to taking into account age equality issues in all their prosecution policies. Negative attitudes towards older people can be widespread in our society and these may be reflected in organisations that care for older people, whether in a domestic setting or in institutions. The Criminal Justice system is determined to play its part in challenging this.
What about crimes against Children and Child Abuse?
Child abuse is not specifically a 'hate crime' even though children represent one of the most vulnerable groups in society.
Stop it Now! is a campaign, managed by the Lucy Faithfull Foundation, which aims to prevent child sexual abuse by raising awareness and encouraging early recognition and responses to the problem by abusers themselves and those close to them. It does this through:
- the establishment of national and regional projects based on partnerships between the local community and the statutory and voluntary agencies
- the dissemination of information and
- the provision of a confidential helpline.
- Stop it Now! believes sexual abuse is preventable and urges abusers and potential abusers to seek help and gives adults the information they need to protect children effectively. Stop it Now! encourages adults to create a society that no longer tolerates the sexual abuse of children. Visit http://www.stopitnow.org.uk or confidential helpline on 0808 1000 900
Internet Watch Foundation (IWF)
The IWF was established in 1996 by the internet industry to provide the UK internet Hotline for the public and IT professionals to report criminal online content in a secure and confidential way. The Hotline service can be used anonymously to report criminal online content. IWF work in partnership with the online industry, law enforcement, government, and international partners to minimise the availability of this content, specifically:
child sexual abuse images hosted anywhere in the world - criminally obscene adult content hosted in the UK - incitement to racial hatred content hosted in the UK - non-photographic child sexual abuse images hosted in the UK.
Visit http://www.iwf.org.uk to report criminal online content and images. See also Safer Internet Centre at http://www.saferinternet.org.uk
Bullying
Bullying UK have an excellent website of interest to children, young people, parents, and other adults which covers different elements of bullying including racism. Visit http://www.bullying.co.uk for more information.
Domestic Violence
The Government has defined domestic abuse as 'Any incident of threatening behaviour, violence or abuse (psychological, physical, sexual, financial or emotional) between adults who are or have been intimate partners or family members, regardless of gender and sexuality’.
Lincolnshire Police launched Operation NOVA, say NO to Violence and Abuse, in February 2010. Lincolnshire Police has also launched DASH (Domestic Abuse, Stalking & Harassment and Honour Based Violence) a national multi agency approach, which sees officers at the scene of domestic abuse incidents ask a series of questions to ensure
Lincolnshire’s domestic abuse partnership also has a website containing a range of information http://www.domesticabuselincolnshire.com
Terrorism
Terrorism is an extreme expression of Hate Crime - MI5 are responsible for protecting against threats to national security, including terrorism. If you know something about a threat to national security contact MI5 at https://www.mi5.gov.uk/output/contact-us.html
Genocide
The ultimate and most repugnant expression of Hate Crime is genocide. The Aegis Trust http://www.aegistrust.org/ and the Holcaust Memorial Day Trust http://www.hmd.org.uk/about/who-we-are work tirelessly across the world to educate and infom people about the past, to try and prevent history repeating itself. History however tells us, that history teaches us nothing. Tragically genocides in Rwanda, Bosnia and now in Darfur show that lessons that should have been learned from the Nazi holocaust are soon lost and forgotten. Check out these websites for disturbing truths and realities of genocide in our civilised world.
