Legal Frameworks
These are some of the legal frameworks available which cover actions defined under hate crime:
Public Order Act 1986, Part III Incitement to Racial Hatred
Under this Act it is an offence to commit an act which is threatening, abusive or insulting and which is intended or likely in all the circumstances to stir up racial hatred. Link
Disability Discrimination 1995
This provides disabled people with a comprehensive set of enforceable rights in areas such as employment, education, transport, the functions of public bodies and access to goods, facilities and services. Link
Crime and Disorder Act 1998 (as amended by Anti-terrorism, Crime & Security Act 2001)
This contains a number of specific offences of racially or religiously aggravated crime. These offences carry higher maximum penalties than the basic offence equivalents. Link
Criminal Justice Act 2003
S.145: in addition to the specific offences created by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, this places a general duty on courts to treat more seriously any offence which can be shown to be racially or religiously aggravated or motivated. S.146: this places a duty on courts to increase the sentence for any offence aggravated by the demonstration or motivation of hostility based upon the victims’ disability (or presumed disability) or sexual orientation (or presumed sexual orientation). Link
Football Offences Act 1991 (as amended)
An offence is committed when a group of people, or one person acting alone, chants something of a racist nature at a designated football match. To prove this offence, the prosecution has to show that the chanting was threatening, abusive or insulting to another person because of that person's colour, race, nationality (including citizenship) or ethnic or national origin. Link.
Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006
Under this Act an offence is committed if a person uses threatening words or behaviour, or displays any written material, which is threatening, if he intends thereby to stir up religious hatred. Link .
Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008
This amends the Public Order Act 1986 to include incitement to hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation. At the time of writing, this is not in force and it is hoped it will be in force by the end of 2009. Link .
Last update: Thursday, September 17, 2009