United Kingdom
The United Kingdom regularly reports hate crime data to ODIHR. The United Kingdom's hate crime laws are a combination of general penalty enhancement provisions and substantive offences. In England and Wales, hate crime data are collected and published by the Home Office, based on police data submissions. Prosecution data is collected and published by the Crown Prosecution Service. The Crime Survey of England and Wales includes regular victimization surveys to measure unreported hate crimes. In Northern Ireland, hate crime data are collected by the Police Service of Northern Ireland and the Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland. In Scotland, data are collected by the Procurator Fiscal and Police Scotland. Police and prosecution data, which cover the reporting period from April to March of the following year, are regularly published.
OFFICIAL DATA
Year | Hate crimes recorded by police | Prosecuted | Sentenced |
---|---|---|---|
2020 | 125,848 | 16,824 | 9,510 |
2019 | 106,672 | 14,058 | 9,340 |
2018 | 111,076 | 18,055 | 10,817 |
2017 | 95,552 | 14,535 | 11,987 |
2016 | 80,763 | 20,321 | Not available |
2015 | 62518 | 21300 | 13103 |
2014 | 52853 | 4872 | 549 |
2013 | 47986 | 19689 | 12353 |
2012 | 47676 | 19205 | 10794 |
2011 | 50688 | 19802 | 12651 |
2010 | 53946 | 19342 | 11405 |
2009 | 58692 | 13030 | 10690 |
About 2015 Data
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Police data represent hate crimes recorded in England and Wales only. The total numbers of police recorded hate crimes by bias motivation presented below are higher than this overall number due to cases involving more than one bias.
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.
Incidents reported by civil society, international organizations and the Holy See
INTERNATIONAL REPORTS
Racist and xenophobic hate crime
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.
KEY OBSERVATION
ODIHR observes that the United Kingdom has met most OSCE commitments on hate crime data collection and reporting.