Estonia

How hate crime data is collected

Police officers are obliged to categorize each case reported to the police. Among other values (case type), it is possible to choose between three categories of hate crime:

1. Bias against race, religion origin;
2. Bias against sexual orientation and identity; and
3. Bias against other groups (disability and other social groups).

Methods for identifying hate crimes are described in an instruction prepared by the Ministry of Justice.

Law enforcement agents can mark the motive of a criminal case when the suspect has been identified. It is not obligatory to mark/select/define the motive of the crime because this is not required by the law. Law enforcement agents can choose "hate motive" (vaenumotiiv in Estonian) from the different classifications of motive in the electronic database - the Police Information System. This "hate crime flag" is currently not visible to prosecutors.

All reported crimes are recorded in an electronic system called E-File, which is used by several client-systems including the Police Information System and the Criminal Case Management Register used by prosecutors and investigative bodies. The E-File is an integrated central information system that provides all criminal justice bodies with access to criminal files and enables simultaneous exchange of information. Data entered in the MIS is simultaneously accessible by a prosecutor in the Criminal Case Management Register. The entered information can be further used and changed by the prosecutor in the prosecutors' Register and sent if necessary to the courts information system (KIS). Later, the procedural information and the court decision can be delivered to the Information System of Prisons (VangIS).

The E-File is also used to generate crime statistics, including on hate crimes.