What to do if you’ve experienced hate crime
At Citizens Advice Wigan Borough we stand against hate crime in any form - we’re here for anyone who has been subjected to a hate crime or incident. We are a registered hate crime reporting centre and our staff can provide advice and tell you where to get more information and support.
What is a hate crime?
A hate crime is a criminal offence motivated by hostility or prejudice based on a person’s disability, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation and transgender identity.
Hate crimes can take many forms, including physical attacks, threats of attack and damage to property. The penalty for a crime is more serious if it’s a hate crime.
It’s still a hate crime if someone made a mistake about your identity. For example, if they attacked you because they thought you were a Muslim, but you aren’t.
Hate crimes include:
Physical assault
Damage to property
Offensive graffiti
Arson
What is a hate incident?
If you experienced something that wasn’t a crime, but you think it was motivated by prejudice against you it’s a hate incident. If you’ve experienced abuse and you think it’s because of your age, the police may treat this as a hate incident.
Hate incidents include:
Verbal abuse, insults or taunting
Offensive leaflets and posters
Abusive gestures
Bullying at school or in the workplace
If you experience more than one hate incident by the same person or group of people, this might count as harrassment. Harassment can be a crime. For example, it might be harassment if someone on your streets keeps shouting abuse at you.
What to do if you’ve experienced a hate crime?
You can report it to the police if you’ve:
Experienced a hate crime or incident
Seen a hate crime or incident happen to someone else
It’s often worth reporting it to the police even if you don’t think it’s very serious. Sometimes small hate incidents can lead to more serious ones.
We can give you advice if you’re not sure whether you want to report a hate crime to the police, or if you’re not sure what evidence to include in your report.
If you don’t want to go to the police, as a hate crime reporting centre we can refer hate crime to the police on your behalf, keeping your details anonymous if you wish.
