What is Hate Crime?
The term 'hate crime' can be used to describe a range of criminal behaviour where the perpetrator is motivated by hostility or demonstrates hostility towards the victim's identity (e.g race, gender, sexual orientation, disability etc).
Hate incidents can take many forms. Here are examples of hate incidents:
verbal abuse like name-calling and offensive jokes
harassment
bullying or intimidation by children, adults, neighbours 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
harm or damage to things such as your home, pet, vehicle
graffiti
arson
throwing rubbish into a garden
