Hate crime
A hate crime is when someone commits a crime against someone else because of an actual or perceived difference, such as a disability, transgender identity, race, religion, or sexual orientation.
Examples of hate crime
Hate crime doesn't necessarily mean physical violence; it could be:
- someone using offensive language towards you or harassing you because of who you are (or who they think you are)
- someone posting abusive or offensive messages about you online.
Report a hate crime
You might want to shrug it off if it happens to you. But if you don't tell us, we won't know about it and can't stop it from getting worse - for you or someone else.
Even if you're not sure if it's a crime or not, we would encourage you to report it, so we can investigate.
Hate crime doesn't have to be targeted at you to report it.
You can report anything you see happening to someone else or report it on their behalf if they don't want to.
Report hate crime (opens new window)