A hate crime is 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.

There is a distinction between a hate crime and a hate incident, which is defined like this:

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.

A hate incident could be:

·         verbal abuse like name-calling and offensive jokes

·         harassment

·         bullying or intimidation by children, adults, neighbors or strangers

·         physical attacks such as hitting, punching, pushing, spitting

·         threats of violence

·         hoax calls, abusive phone or text messages, hate mail

·         online abuse for example on Facebook or Twitter

·         displaying or circulating discriminatory literature or posters

Hate crime is often perceived as more harmful to victims and communities than other types of offending because it involves targeting someone’s identity.

If someone is in immediate danger you need to report it by calling the police on 999. You can also report incidents in school.

If you have concerned about YOU and/or a FRIEND or SOMEONE you know, this is a CONFIDENTIAL way to report it.