Sarah Phillimore, barrister and co-founder of campaign group Fair Cop, told The Telegraph she hopes the review “marks the beginning of the end for the well-intentioned but deeply flawed hate crimes guidance”.
However, the College of Policing’s Iain Raphael has warned that, without recording the incidents, officers risk “having a blind spot in their local understanding, hampering their ability to protect members of vulnerable and marginalised groups”. Raphael cited the Stephen Lawrence inquiry report as showing the need for officers to understand “how hate can escalate”.
How is a ‘hate crime’ different to a ‘non-crime hate incident’?
A hate crime is defined by the Crown Prosecution Service as an incident where the offending party is “motivated by hostility or demonstrates hostility” towards a person’s race, religion, disability, sexual orientation or transgender identity. In order to prosecute an alleged hate crime “it is necessary to demonstrat