Hate Crime Mini-Site Introduction
Welcome to the Hate Crime mini-site. This site is aimed to provide information and guidance for victims and practitioners who want information on what the government are doing to address hate crime. It includes our strategies, links to further information and other bodies which support our work and also links to support organisations.
What is Hate Crime?
Hate crime is the targeting of individuals, groups and communities because of who they are. It targets people because of elements which go to the core of their identities. The 5 recognised strands of hate crime are:
- Disability
- Race
- Religion and belief;
- Sexual orientation; and
- Transgender.
The detailed definition of hate crime which we use, along with the Association of Chief Police Officers and the Crown Prosecution Service can be found here :
Why do we need to act on Hate Crime?
We act to tackle hate crime specifically because it manifests itself in different ways to other crime. We aim to develop a fully joined up strategy to tackle hate crime because:
- Research has shown that hate crimes cause greater harm than similar crimes without a motivation of hostility and it takes longer for hate crime victims to recover.
- Hate crime is a manifestation of, and a means of sustaining, discrimination against certain groups in our society and limits equality of opportunity.
- Hate crime instils fear in victims, groups and communities. It affects the individual all the way to the entire community and undermines community cohesion. We need to break such cycles of fear and crime.
What are we doing to tackle Hate Crime?
The Home Office is committed to ensuring an effective multi-agency response to tackling hate crime. For more information on our objectives and our work please click here.
There is also a well developed legal framework to tackle with the issues in hate crime. For more information click here :
Victims of Hate Crime
We are working to ensure that victims know where they can go to seek the support they need and that they are provided with support that is both accessible and empowering.
If you are a victim of hate crime or know somebody who is click here for more information:
Last update: Monday, September 14, 2009