What is a hate crime?

A hate crime is defined as 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 actual, or perceived, characteristics, including disability, age, race, religion, sexual orientation, gender or transgender identity. There is no legal definition of the word 'hostility' but it can cover actions driven by ill-will, spite, contempt, prejudice, unfriendliness, antagonism, resentment and dislike.

A hate incident is any act which the victim, or anyone else, thinks is based on someone's prejudice towards them because of their disability, age, race, religion, sexual orientation, gender or transgender identity, but do not constitute criminal offences (i.e. no law is broken).