Official figures record 43,426 racist hate crimes in England and Wales. Police in Scotland recorded 6,590 racist crimes.
Official figures record 703 anti-Semitic crimes were recorded by the police in England and Wales.
These are included in the racist and anti-religious hate crime figures, and are not additional to those.
Official figures record 2,083 anti-religious hate crimes in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in England and Wales.
Official figures record 4,805 hate crimes motivated by sexual orientation and 312 crimes targeting transgender persons in England and Wales.
Official figures record 1,477 crimes motivated by bias against persons with disabilities were recorded by the police in England and Wales. In addition, the UK reported the murder of a man with learning disabilities.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission decided to conduct a formal inquiry into the actions of public authorities to eliminate disabilityrelated harassment in England and Wales. This inquiry was a follow-up to the 2009 report of the Commission addressing the issue of hate crimes against persons with disabilities.
The Scottish Parliament passed the Offences (Aggravation by Prejudice) Act 2009. The Act extended the previous list of aggravating circumstances in crimes to include offences motivated by prejudice relating to a victim’s actual or presumed disability, sexual orientation or transgender identity. The Act also requires courts to stipulate the use of aggravating circumstances when sentencing.
The Cross-Governmental Hate Crime Strategy Board introduced a hate crime diagnostic toolkit to enable local authorities to assess the quality of service offered to hate crime victims and develop multi-agency action plans to improve services where needed. Adding to the already existing resource packs for victims, an information kit focusing on disability hate crimes aims to raise awareness of victim’s rights and build confidence in the criminal justice response to such crimes. This includes information geared towards persons with learning disabilities. The government launched a Cross-Government Action Plan in September 2009 to set out how to meet the challenges of hate crime, including homophobic and transphobic hate crime.
An organizer of a music festival against racism was assaulted after receiving threats and his photo appeared on the Redwatch website.
The Community Security Trust reported 924 incidents, of which 124 were assaults, 44 involved threats, and 89 involved damage to property, including 26 incidents of the desecration of synagogues and six of cemeteries. The Stephen Roth Institute reported 374 violent incidents.
ENGAGE reported one murder, one violent attack, two assaults, two arson attacks against mosques and one against the headquarters of the Muslim charity Islamic Relief.
Following the desecration of approximately 20 Muslim graves at Manchester’s Southern Cemetery in three incidents from September to November 2009, United Against Fascism held a peace vigil at the cemetery. The aim of the event was to respond to these acts by building unity and solidarity among communities.
Transgender Europe (TGEU) reported the murders of two transgender persons.
A Disability Hate Crime Summit was organized on 20 January 2009 by the NGOs Scope, Disability Now and the UK Disabled People’s Council, in association with the Metropolitan Police Service’s Disability Independent Advisory Group. The summit focused on the importance of tackling hate crimes at the local level.
The Institute for Conflict Research in Northern Ireland published a research paper on hate crime against people with disabilities. The report acknowledged the significance of the problem and the lack of awareness that such crimes should be reported as hate crimes.
The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) raised concerns over anti-Semitism and intolerance and discrimination against Muslims in the United Kingdom.