Disability Hate Crime
“Hate crime is rarely a one-off incident. While there is usually only a very small chance that a person is a repeat victim of crime, hate crime victims are more likely to suffer repeated, constant and daily abuse from the same perpetrator(s).”
The effect of hate crime can have a devastating psychological impact on victims. The cumulative effect of such incidents and crimes can impact lives through their long-term effects, including emotional harm.
If victims of hate crime do not report what they have encountered, Government agencies, Policy makers and Neighbourhood Policing Teams will not know the extent of the problem and won't be able to take important steps to eliminate it.
If perpetrators go unchallenged, they will continue to put others in danger. Report hate crime so that it can be dealt with.
What is Hate Crime?
A hate crime is defined as 'any criminal offence which is perceived by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by hostility or prejudice based on a person's race or perceived race; religion or perceived religion; sexual orientation or perceived sexual orientation; disability or perceived disability and any crime motivated by hostility or prejudice against a person who is transgender or perceived to be transgender.'
A hate incident is any incident which the victim, or anyone else, thinks is based on someone’s prejudice towards them because of their race, religion, sexual orientation, disability or because they are transgender.
Not all hate incidents will amount to criminal offences, but it is equally important that these are reported and recorded by the police.
Basingstoke Hate Crime Working Group
BDDF are part of the Basingstoke Hate Crime Working Group which has been established to encourage and support a wide range of organisations and residents of the Borough of Basingstoke and Deane to work together to tackle Hate Crime.
Current priority areas for the group are:
To raise awareness of hate crime and hate incidents
To increase confidence amongst victims to report hate crimes or hate incidents
To increase reporting of Hate Crime and to work with young people to educate and challenge attitudes and prejudices.
Hate crime comes in many different forms and strikes at the heart of communities. With your help, we can tackle those responsible for hate crime and keep our community safe.
You can find more about the working group on The Basingstoke Voluntary Action Page.
