Racially Motivated Crime
Racially Aggravated Offences: An Overview
New offences under Sections 28-32, 82 of the Crime & Disorder Act 1998 deal with the crimes of racist violence and harassment. They are intended to make it clear that racial crime will not be tolerated.
Key points
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These offences deal with the problem of racist violence and harassment. When racist crime occurs it does more than injure the victim or damage property. It affects the whole family. It generates a climate of fear across the community that has been attacked and it erodes the standards of decency of the wider community.
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The new offences cover racially aggravated assault, harassment and criminal damage.
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The new racially aggravated offences differ from the offences of assault, harassment and criminal damage that already existed in that higher sentences are available for people convicted of the new offences. For example, the maximum sentence for common assault is 6 months and/or a £5,000 fine. The maximum sentence for racially aggravated common assault is 2 years and/or an unlimited fine.
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A crime will count as "racially aggravated" if it can be shown that it was motivated either wholly or partly by racism. A crime will also count as "racially aggravated" if it can be shown that – even though the motivation for the attack was not racist – racist hostility was demonstrated during the course of the offence or immediately before or after it.
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A "racial group" is, for the purposes of the new offences, "a group of persons defined by reference to race, colour, nationality (including citizenship) or ethnic or national origins".
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There has been concern expressed in particular by members of the Muslim community that the offences do not apply when someone is attacked because of their religion. The Government believes that the vast majority of attacks on Muslims are motivated by racism, rather than hostility towards Islam. The Act makes it clear that even where there is a religious element to a crime, so long as some part of the motivation is racial, the offence will count as a racially aggravated offence.
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Not all racist behaviour is covered by the new racially aggravated offences. But police have special procedures for dealing with all racially motivated incidents whether they are racially aggravated offences or not. A racially motivated incident is "any incident in which it appears to the reporting or investigating officer that the complaint involves an element of racial motivation" or "any incident which includes an allegation of racial motivation made by any person".
IF YOU THINK YOU, OR YOUR FAMILY, HAVE BEEN THE VICTIM OF A RACIALLY AGGRAVATED OFFENCE, OR OF ANY KIND OF RACIST INCIDENT, YOU SHOULD REPORT THE MATTER TO YOUR LOCAL POLICE.
Further guidance
Full guidance on the new offences is available here.
Last update: 08/09/03