What is a hate crime?

Find out about the different types of hate crime and how to report.

What is a hate crime?

Lewisham Council's commissioned service StopHate UK advise a hate crime is any criminal offence that is motivated by hostility and prejudice towards a person’s identity or perceived identity. The following are the five nationally monitored strands:

Disability
Race
Religion/Faith
Sexual Orientation
Transgender Identity

Anyone can be affected by hate crime. You don’t have to be a member of the group to which the hostility is targeted at. You don’t have to be gay to have had homophobic abuse shouted at you. You may not be part of a religion and still have someone target you because they think you are.

Report a hate crime or incident

If you or someone else is experiencing hate crime or a hate incident, report it as soon as possible. Reporting helps protect individuals and communities and enables agencies to take action.

Call 999 if there is an emergency or a crime is happening now.

Call 101 to report a non-emergency hate crime or hate incident.

Report online using the police's online reporting services or local reporting forms.

Anonymous Reporting

Report anonymously to the Council

Support for victims of hate crime

Stop Hate UK aims to provide a service at any time of the day or night, 365 days a year. You can contact Stop Hate UK by phone or online to report an incident or seek support. Stop Hate UK is a charity providing independent and confidential support to people affected by hate crime

The Stop Hate Line is open 24 hours a day, every day of the year on 0800 138 1625. The helpline is also available by text message on 07717 989 025 and by email to talk@stophateuk.org. Service users with Hearing Impairments can also report via interactive BSL on the Stop Hate UK website. Victims and witnesses can also chat on the web or fill in an online form.

Hate crime and hate incidents

A hate incident is any incident that the person affected or anyone else believes is based on a person’s identity.

Not all hate incidents will lead to criminal offences though. One-off incidents such as malicious complaints about parking or abusive gestures may fall short of being a criminal act but if they are repeated, they can become crimes.

Serious offences such as stalking, harassment or coercive behaviour are often made up of incidents that on their own may not be criminal offences. Therefore, it is important to report all incidents, no matter how small, so that everything is documented to prove a pattern of behaviour.

When hate incidents become criminal offences they are known as hate crimes. A criminal offence is something that breaks the law.

It is important to report hate incidents, as they can escalate to hate crimes or build up a picture of a pattern of behaviour that can be charged as a criminal offence.

Examples of hate crime

Any criminal offence can be a hate crime if it was carried out because of hostility or prejudice based on disability, race, religion, transgender identity, or sexual orientation:

physical assault
verbal abuse
criminal damage to property or possession
harassment
murder
sexual assault
theft
fraud
burglary
hate mail (Malicious Communications Act 1988)
causing harassment, alarm, or distress (Public Order Act 1986).
online abuse for example on Facebook or Twitter
displaying or circulating discriminatory literature or posters
graffiti
arson

Read our pledge to support victims of crime.

Third party reporting of hate crime

Some organisations can offer support to help you decide if you want to make an official report or complaint. If you do, this will be forwarded to the police and us to note or take action and for monitoring the numbers of incidents reported.

What is a hate crime?