Information, Action and Support around hate crime with Arcus

Do you know what a hate crime is and how to report one? Arcus have a range of information to help support the LGBT+ community on this topic.

The following is directly from Arcus.

 

In most crimes it is something the victim has in their possession or control that motivates the offender to commit the crime. With hate crime it is ‘who’ the victim is, or ‘what’ the victim appears to be that motivates the offender to commit the crime.

A hate crime is defined as ‘Any criminal offence which is perceived by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by hostility or prejudice based on a person’s race or perceived race; religion or perceived religion; sexual orientation or perceived sexual orientation; disability or perceived disability and any crime motivated by hostility or prejudice against a person who is transgender or perceived to be transgender.’

A hate incident is any incident which the victim, or anyone else, thinks is based on someone’s prejudice towards them because of their race, religion, sexual orientation, disability or because they are transgender.

Not all hate incidents will amount to criminal offences, but it is equally important that these are reported and recorded by the police.

Evidence of the hate element is not a requirement. You do not need to personally perceive the incident to be hate related. It would be enough if another person, a witness or even a police officer thought that the incident was hate related.

These can be verbal or physical attacks!

Incitement to hatred

The offence of incitement to hatred occurs when someone acts in a way that is threatening and intended to stir up hatred. That could be in words, pictures, videos, music, and includes information posted on websites.

How to report a Hate Crime

Report hate crime by:

  • Calling non emergency police on 101
  • In an emergency always call 999
  • If you’d prefer to speak to an officer in person, the police can provide a safe and comfortable environment.
  • You may also receive assistance from a specially trained PCSO as part of the reporting process.

 

Alternatively, you can report via: True Vision

 

If you do not want to report directly to the police you can submit an online form to True Vision. This can be completed anonymously if you require it to be.

There are multiple sources of support for Victims of Hate Crime, you can click title above, or the image to the right to see some of these