Prosecution data breakdown is as follows: 314 in Northern Ireland, 5,544 in Scotland and 15,442 in England and Wales.
Data on sentencing do not include Scotland, with Northern Ireland reporting 258 and England and wales 12,845 convictions.
All data cover period from April 2015 to March 2016.
A new guidance on hate crime was published by the College of Policing, which aims at helping police officers reduce the under-reporting of hate crimes. The guidance further recognized emerging challenges such as internet-based offences and improving police response to hate crime against people with disabilities.
The Welsh Assembly published its hate crime strategy, Tackling hate crimes and incidents: a framework for action, focusing on three objectives: prevention, supporting victims and improving multi-agency response.
The Office of the Mayor of London published a hate crime strategy for London. The strategy identifies a number of objectives for the period from 2014 to 2017, including disseminating hate crime resources for educational institutions; developing an awareness campaign in London; developing a smartphone app for reporting incidents; developing a third party telephone reporting mechanism across London to supplement already existing local mechanisms; co-operating with the Ministry of Justice to develop resources within the True Vision hate crime reporting information website that are specific to London; developing with the Metropolitan Police Service a map of London’s hate crime hotspots; improving the use of enhanced sentencing by judges in “hostility-based offences” by urging the Home Secretary to introduce new sentencing guidelines for hate crimes and the recording of enhanced sentences on the Police National Computer.
The Community Security Trust (CST) and the Kantor Centre reported 85 physical assaults, four of which caused serious injuries; and 65 incidents of damage to property, including 24 incidents that targeted personal property, six incidents targeting synagogues, one against a cemetery and five that involved the hacking of websites. The CST also reported 85 incidents of vandalism and graffiti on non-Jewish property.
Galop reported a physical assault carried out by a group in which a gay man was stabbed and suffered serious injuries; one robbery targeting a gay man, in which a baseball bat and knife were used by a group; and four incidents of threats, with victims including a transgender woman and a man with intellectual disability.
MEND reported 32 physical assaults, three of which were carried out by groups and which caused serious injuries, also including three assaults involving the use of weapons. Two of the assaults involved robbery and three also involved damage to property. These 32 physical assaults targeted four women and 11 assaults targeted taxi drivers. The victims were Asian, Indian, Egyptian, Algerian, Sudanese, Somali, Iranian, Turkish and Iraqi-Kurd.
MEND also reported one attempted physical assault, one attempted robbery, ten incidents of threats, one arson attack, seven incidents of damage to property and two incidents of graffiti.
Tell MAMA reported two physical assaults, both of which were carried out by groups, one targeting a Sudanese man and the other targeting an Asian man, who was seriously injured. MEND and Tell MAMA also reported one threat.
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), Human Rights first, the CST and the Kantor Centre reported one physical assault in which a group attacked a group of Jewish men, one of whom was hospitalized.
The ADL reported two physical assaults, including one in which a large group attacked a group of people congregated in a Synagogue, and one incident of vandalism. MEND and Tell MAMA reported one incident of anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim graffiti.
MEND and Tell MAMA reported the attempted murder of a woman wearing a headscarf, who was pushed in front of an incoming train in a subway station; ten physical assaults, including one which involved the use of an air-rifle and three targeting women; one threat; one arson attack against a mosque; the bombing of a Muslim cultural centre; one attempted arson attack; two incidents of damage to mosques; nine incidents of vandalism ,including eight with graffiti; and one incident of the desecration of Muslim graves.
MEND reported 27 physical assaults, two of which resulted in the death of the victims, two of which were carried out by large groups, and three of which involved weapons. MEND also reported eight incidents of threat; one arson attack ,in which a car wash was also covered in anti-Muslim graffiti; one attempted arson attack; six incidents of damage to property, three of which targeted mosques; 16 incidents of vandalism; and one incident of the desecration of a mosque.
Tell MAMA reported an additional attempted murder, in which a group tried to push a woman wearing a headscarf in front of an incoming train; 54 physical assaults, including 27 that targeted women; three attempted physical assaults, one in which a large group attacked and harassed a group of women; 31 incidents of threats; one arson attack on a mosque; 14 incidents of damage to property, including six targeting mosques and eight private property; and 18 incidents of vandalism, of which 15 involved graffiti.
Transgender Europe reported the murder of an incarcerated transgender person.
The Observatory of Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians in Europe (OIDC) reported one physical assault and one incident of damage to a church
Tell MAMA reported one physical assault in which a young boy with disabilities was assaulted on a bus, and one threat against a Turkish man that involved both anti-disability and anti-Muslim verbal abuse.
In its "Concluding observations on the seventh periodic report of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland", the United Nations Human Rights Committee (HRC) recommended that the existing legislation and policy to counter hate crimes be effectively implemented, reporting improved, and that cases should be thoroughly investigated, with perpetrators prosecuted and appropriately sentenced.
In its fifth report on the United Kingdom, the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) recommended that data be gathered where enhanced sentencing was applied; and to monitor cases where bias aggravation was invoked and then withdrawn during the plea bargain.
ODIHR observes that the United Kingdom has met most OSCE commitments on hate crime data collection and reporting.