What is Hate Crime?

Hate crime can refer to both hate incidents and hate crimes. 

A hate incident is defined as ‘any non-crime incident which is perceived by the victim or any other person to being motivated by a hostility or prejudice towards that person because of his race, religious belief, disability, gender, sexual orientation or gender identity. 

A hate crime is defined as ‘any criminal offence which is perceived by the victim or any other person to be motivated by a hostility or prejudice towards that person because of his race, religious belief, disability, gender, sexual orientation or gender identity. 

The only difference between an incident and a crime is that the incident is not legally actionable and does not constitute criminal offence. 

If you believe a crime was targeted at someone, even in part, because of prejudice or hostility about any of the characteristics mentioned above, then it’s treated as a hate crime. This means that if you, your family or friends believe it was a hate crime, then the police will treat it as such.

• preventing hate crime happening by challenging the attitudes and behaviours that foster hatred, and encouraging early intervention to reduce the risk of incidents escalating
• increasing the reporting of hate crime that occurs by building victims' confidence to come forward and seek justice, and working with partners at local level including the Suffolk Police and the Suffolk Hate Crime Service to ensure the right support is available when they do