A hate incident is any incident which is perceived by the victim or any other person to have been motivated by hostility or prejudice towards someone’s race, disability, religion, sexual orientation or transgender identity (or their perceived identity).
A hate crime is defined in the same way but refers to a criminal offence being committed against someone.
Hate incidents and hate crimes should not be tolerated and should be reported.
Hate incidents can range from verbal harassment through to physical violence and they can have serious negative effects on the victims. Unfortunately, hate crime continues to go unreported here in Wales and across the UK.
Hate crime includes:
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Disability hate crime/harassment
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Racist hate crime/harassment
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Homophobic hate crime/harassment
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Transphobic hate crime/harassment
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Faith related hate crime/harassment
A service has been set up which allows anyone to report hate crime – whether they are a victim, witness or a third party. This can be done online via
www.saferwales.com or through a reporting form which is available across Wales.
If you are the victim or witness of a hate crime due to a learning disability you can also call the Wales Learning Disability Helpline (free phone 0808 808 1111).