Home Office data from 2018 showed a noticeable increase in hate crimes recorded by the police across all monitored strands.
This is according to the February 2019 report (pdf) from the APPG on hate crime.
The report finds:
- Hate crime is often intersectional in nature (e.g. many victims are women as well as being black, LGBT, Muslim etc.). However, the current legislation does not allow for this intersectionality to be recorded so the picture that authorities have lacks depth and subtlety
- Hate crime has a markedly greater impact on the emotional and mental well-being of victims when compared to non-hate motivated offences
- Children and young people are particularly vulnerable to hate crime, both through absorbing harmful online content as well as being exposed to the prejudices of adults in their day to day lives
- It was largely agreed that current hate crime legislation is fragmented and creates a ‘hierarchy of hate’ that needs to be addressed (e.g. racism and religious hate crime can carry a greater penalty than LGBT or disability related hate crimes).