Keith Mack
Hate crime laws in the UK were created to enable the prosecution of offences with discriminatory incentives. While there is no single piece of legislation criminalising hate crimes in England and Wales, there are three ways in which the law addresses them: aggravated forms of basic offences, enhanced sentences for offenders motivated by hatred, and offences of stirring up hatred. The UK's hate crime laws have been criticised for failing to protect people of colour and for ignoring the history and nuances of racism in the country. In 2016, the government published a four-year Hate Crime Action Plan to address these issues, and in 2017, a 19-year-old was charged with sending a grossly offensive message by means of a public electronic communications network. The Scottish government also introduced the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act in 2021, which came into force in 2024.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Year of first legislation | 1986 |
| Legislation | Public Order Act 1986 |
| Protected characteristics | colour, race, nationality (including citizenship), ethnic or national origin |
| Hate incident | Perceived by the victim or any other person to be motivated by hostility or prejudice based on disability, race, religion, gender identity or sexual orientation |
| Hate crime | A hate incident that crosses the boundary of criminality |
| Amendments | Crime and Disorder Act 1998, Football (Offences and Disorder) Act 1999, Crime and Courts Act 2013, Sentencing Act 2020, Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 |
| Recent developments | 2016 Hate Crime Action Plan, 2017 investigation, 2018 progress update, 2021 Law Commission recommendations, 2024 Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act |
| Criticisms | Failures to protect people of colour, lack of understanding of racism in the UK, overemphasis on slurs, lack of data and understanding of how different groups are victimised |
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What You'll Learn
Hate crime laws in England and Wales
The Public Order Act 1986 prohibits expressions of racial hatred, defined as hatred against a group based on colour, race, nationality, citizenship, or ethnic or national origin. The Act also covers expressions of hatred based on sexual orientation. The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 introduced racially and religiously aggravated laws following the murder of Stephen Lawrence and increasing hate crimes against people of colour. However, these laws have been criticised for being used against black and minority ethnic people, contradicting their intended purpose.
The Police and CPS have formulated a definition of hate crimes and incidents, which includes any criminal offence perceived by the victim or others as motivated by hostility or prejudice based on disability, race, religion, gender identity, or sexual orientation. This definition aims to guide the identification and prosecution of hate crimes.
In 2016, the Government published a four-year Hate Crime Action Plan focusing on five key areas: preventing hate crimes, responding to them in communities, increasing reporting, improving victim support, and building understanding through data. This plan included initiatives such as educational projects, funding for community responses, and security measures for vulnerable faith institutions.
While there have been calls for reform and legal criticism of hate crime laws in England and Wales, the legislation aims to address discriminatory incentives behind certain offences and enable their prosecution. The laws cover expressions of hatred based on colour, race, sex, disability, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion, and sexual orientation.
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Hate crime laws in Scotland
Hate crime laws in the United Kingdom are found in several statutes, with some differences between England and Wales, and Scotland. In Scotland, the Hate Crime and Public Order Act of 2021 was given Royal Assent on 23 April 2021 and commenced on 1 April 2024. This Act was introduced by Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf, who defended it as a law that “absolutely protects people in their freedom of expression" while also guarding "people from a rising tide of hatred".
The Act lists age as a characteristic for the first time and abolishes the offence of blasphemy, which had not been prosecuted in Scotland for over 175 years. It also includes provisions to add an aggravator for sex and a separate power to add 'sex' to the 'stirring up' offence. The Scottish Government has announced its intention to bring forward an Order to add 'sex' as a protected characteristic to the Act, to ensure protections for women and girls in law. This decision comes as a consequence of not introducing a freestanding bill on misogyny before the next election.
The Act received support from various political parties in Scotland, including the Scottish National Party, Scottish Labour, and the Scottish Liberal Democrats. However, it also attracted criticism. For example, the act's stance on gender identity was opposed by For Women Scotland, while some members of the transgender community stated that the laws were not harsh enough on transphobia.
Police Scotland pledged to investigate every hate crime complaint they receive under the new law. Within the first 48 hours, they logged over 3,000 complaints and stated that they would investigate every report. Police Scotland also received more than 1,000 reports about First Minister Humza Yousaf in the first week, regarding an alleged "anti-white" speech he made in 2020. However, they determined that no violation of the Act had occurred, and it was recorded as a "non-criminal hate incident".
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Hate crime laws and freedom of speech
Hate crime laws in the United Kingdom have evolved over the years to address acts of violence or hostility directed at individuals or groups based on their protected characteristics. These characteristics include colour, race, sex, disability, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion, and sexual orientation. The UK government has recognised the need to protect these characteristics and has implemented legislation to address hate crimes.
The Public Order Act 1986, amended by the Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006, prohibits expressions of racial and religious hatred. This includes threatening or abusive behaviour, written material, or displays intended to stir up hatred against a group based on their protected characteristics. The Act also protects freedom of expression by ensuring that discussion, criticism, or expressions of antipathy towards a particular religion or belief system are not prohibited.
In England, Wales, and Scotland, the Public Order Act 1986, Part 3, specifically prohibits expressions of racial hatred and provides penalties for those found guilty of stirring up racial hatred. The Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 further strengthened hate crime legislation in Scotland, demonstrating the ongoing efforts to address hate crimes in the UK.
While the UK has comprehensive hate crime laws, concerns have been raised regarding the equal protection of all protected characteristics. The Law Commission's 2021 final report recommended that all characteristics, including race, religion, sexual orientation, disability, and transgender identity, should be protected equally under the law. The report also addressed the complexity and lack of clarity in current laws, which can make them challenging to understand and enforce.
In recent years, there has been a push for reform and greater protection for victims of disability and LGBT+ hate crimes. The Sentencing Act 2020 introduced sentencing uplifts to impose more severe penalties for underlying non-hate crimes where evidence of hostility based on protected characteristics is present. Additionally, the UK government has confirmed that it will review the Law Commission's recommendations, including those related to sex and gender, to ensure that hate crime legislation applies to all protected groups.
While hate crime laws aim to protect individuals from harm, there has also been a focus on preserving freedom of speech. The removal of the word "insulting" from the Public Order Act in 2013 was a response to concerns about censorship. However, the line between protecting freedom of expression and prohibiting hate speech can be blurry, as evidenced by various court cases, such as Chelsea Russell's conviction for using a racial slur on social media, and ongoing debates surrounding hate speech laws in the UK.
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Hate crime laws and the UK legal system
Hate crime laws in the UK were created to enable the prosecution of discriminatory incentives behind certain offences. The UK does not have a single piece of legislation criminalising hate crimes in England and Wales. Instead, there are three different ways in which the law deals with hate crime: aggravated forms of certain "basic" offences, enhanced sentences for offenders motivated by hatred, and offences of stirring up hatred.
The Public Order Act 1986 prohibits expressions of racial hatred, defined as hatred against a group based on colour, race, nationality, or ethnic or national origins. The Act also covers offences of stirring up hatred based on race, religion, or sexual orientation. The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 introduced racially and religiously aggravated laws following the murder of Stephen Lawrence and increasing hate crimes against people of colour. However, these laws have recently sparked controversy as they have been used against black and minority ethnic people.
In 2013, the Law Commission launched a consultation on hate crime legislation, examining the extension of stirring up hatred offences to cover disability and transgender identity and the extension of aggravated offences to cover disability, sexual orientation, and transgender identity. The Sentencing Act 2020 provides direction to impose more severe penalties for offences motivated by hatred based on race, religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity, and disability.
The UK's hate crime laws have been criticised for failing to protect people of colour adequately and for ignoring the history and nuances of racism in the country. The application of hate crime legislation has sparked debates around the fundamental misunderstanding of racism in the UK and the challenges of legislating on such a complex and sensitive issue.
To address these issues, the government published a four-year Hate Crime Action Plan in 2016, focusing on prevention, response, increasing reporting, improving victim support, and building understanding through data. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) works with partners in the criminal justice sector to help the public understand hate crime and tackle it effectively. The CPS provides public policy statements on prosecuting various types of hate crimes and offers support to victims and witnesses.
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Hate crime laws and the UK police
Hate crime laws in the UK are covered by several statutes, and there are slight differences between England and Wales and Scotland. The Public Order Act 1986, amended by the Crime and Courts Act 2013, prohibits expressions of racial hatred, including the use of threatening, abusive, or insulting words or behaviour. The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 and the Sentencing Act 2020 allow for increased sentences for hate crimes, with the underlying offence remaining a non-hate crime.
The Police and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) have formulated a definition of hate crimes and hate incidents, which includes any criminal offence perceived by the victim or any other person to be motivated by hostility or prejudice based on disability, race, religion, gender identity, or sexual orientation. This definition helps police identify and flag hate crimes, and they work to obtain evidence to support these cases.
Hate incidents become hate crimes when they cross the boundary of criminality. Expressions of hatred towards someone based on their colour, race, sex, disability, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion, or sexual orientation are forbidden and can result in fines, imprisonment, or both.
The UK police forces work with various organisations to support victims and witnesses of hate crimes and deliver justice. They also provide public policy statements explaining how they deal with and prosecute hate crimes, and what victims and witnesses can expect. Additionally, the police work with partners across the criminal justice sector to raise awareness about hate crimes and how to tackle them.
The UK's hate crime laws have been applied in several cases. For example, in 2010, a jury found Harry Taylor guilty under the Public Order Act 1986 for leaving anti-religious cartoons in a prayer room at Liverpool's John Lennon Airport. In another instance, Chelsea Russell was fined and given a curfew for quoting a song lyric on Instagram that included a racial slur.
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Frequently asked questions
Hate crime laws in the UK are found in several statutes, and they differ slightly from the laws adopted in Scotland. These laws forbid expressions of hatred toward someone on account of that person's colour, race, sex, disability, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion, or sexual orientation.
The UK's hate crime laws were introduced following the murder of Stephen Lawrence and increasing hate crimes committed against people of colour. The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 was the first legislation to introduce racially and religiously aggravated laws.
There are several criticisms of the UK's hate crime laws. Firstly, they are seen as failing to protect people of colour adequately and ignoring the history and nuances of racism in the UK. Secondly, the application of these laws is often oversimplified, relying mainly on the perception of the police officer and ignoring wider social contexts and community dynamics.
The Police and CPS have formulated a definition of hate crimes, which includes any criminal offence perceived by the victim or any other person as being motivated by hostility or prejudice based on disability, race, religion, gender identity, or sexual orientation.
One example is the case of Chelsea Russell, who was charged with "sending a grossly offensive message by means of a public electronic communications network" after quoting a line containing a racial slur from a song on her Instagram page in 2017. Another example is the case of Harry Taylor, who was charged under the Public Order Act 1986 for leaving anti-religious cartoons in the prayer room of Liverpool's John Lennon Airport in 2008.
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