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If you have encountered an incident that was motivated by who you are or who someone thinks you are, you may have been a victim of a hate crime/incident.

For example, a person is beaten up and whilst being attacked the offender makes offensive comments about the person's believed race or ethnicity / sexual orientation/religion or belief/disability or transgender identity.

Please see SQ643 for definitions of a hate crime/hate incident.

The police take reports of these incidents very seriously and if you feel you have been the victim of a hate crime/incident you should report the matter to your local police force.

Reports can also be made online via True Vision who report it to the police on your behalf, should you not wish to report it directly. For more information, please see the websites in the Related Information.

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Whilst there is no legal requirement to report a crime there is a moral duty on every one of us to report to the police anything that you have seen that may be a crime or something that you suspect may be a crime.

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It depends on what type of incident you are reporting. This area of law is very complex so the following is a basic guide only (as there are exceptions).

Road Traffic Incidents -

  • Reportable road traffic collisions (see questions in related information for more details) have to be reported as soon as practicable or within 24 hours in any case. Some forces may not take a report of a road traffic collision after a specified amount of time.
  • Minor road traffic incidents have to be prosecuted so therefore reported within 6 months (e.g. failing to wear a seatbelt)
  • For serious road traffic incidents, there is no time limit when these can be reported/prosecuted (dangerous driving).
  • Please note that a collision only needs to be reported if it is a reportable road accident.
Crime -

Most crimes do not have a time limit for reporting them. The crimes that do have time limits are summary only which means that they can only be tried at a Sheriff Court so are relatively minor offences, they must be prosecuted within 6 months (e.g. common assault, harassment and take without owners consent).

Do bear in mind that the longer the period between the incident happening and reporting the matter to the police the harder it will be for the police to gather the evidence.

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The definition of a hate crime is:

Any crime which is perceived by the victim or any other person, to be motivated (wholly or partly) by malice and ill-will towards a social group.

The definition of a hate incident is:

Any incident which is perceived by the victim or any other person, to be motivated (wholly or partly) by malice and ill-will towards a social group but which does not constitute a criminal offence (non-crime incident).

To list, hate crimes and hate incidents are based or motivated by:

  • race or ethnicity
  • religion or belief
  • sexual orientation
  • disability
  • transgender identity

For example, a person is beaten up and whilst being attacked the offender makes offensive comments about that person's believed race or ethnicity / sexual orientation/religion or belief/disability, or transgender identity.

A hate crime also takes place when the crime is motivated by the offender's incorrect beliefs. For example, a person is beaten up and comments are incorrectly made about that person's assumed race or ethnicity / sexual orientation/religion or belief/disability, or transgender identity.

Other personal characteristics may be the reasoning behind certain incidents such as age and particular subcultures (e.g. Goths, Emos), however, these are not considered hate crimes in law. Offences of this nature will still be prosecuted but not specifically as hate crimes. Specific legislation allows the courts to impose tougher sentences on offenders that carry out hate crimes.

Police take reports of these incidents very seriously and if you feel you have been the victim of a hate crime you should report the matter to your local police force. Reports can also be made online via True Vision who in turn report it to the police on your behalf, should you not wish to report it directly.

For further information please see the links in Related Information.

 

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