Hate Crime

Hate crimes and incidents happen because of hostility, hate or prejudice against someone because of their race, religion, gender, sexual orientation or disability. 

The Home Office defines hate crime as “"Any incident, which constitutes a criminal offence, which is perceived by the victim or any other person as being motivated by prejudice or hate." Hate Crimes are confusing and frightening and can take many forms:

• physical attacks –physical assault, damage to property, offensive graffiti, neighbour disputes and arson 

• threat of attack – including offensive letters, abusive or obscene telephone calls, groups hanging around to intimidate you and unfounded, malicious complaints 

• verbal abuse or insults – harassment over the phone, by text or face to face, abusive gestures and remarks, bullying and threats.

For further information on domestic abuse please see the links at the bottom of this page.  

Hiding your tracks online
There are ways that you can increase your safety on the internet if you are concerned about someone knowing which pages you have visited.  Victim Support provides a practical guide to safe web site usage (opens in a new window). Don’t forget that you can visit pages for free at any local library, a friend’s house or pay for use in an internet café.