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Hate Crime

Hate crime is 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.
In April 2014, West Midlands Police (WMP) introduced hate strand markers in order to better record and identify hate crime offences. These markers were:

Disability
Sexual Orientation (Homophobic)
Race
Religion
Gender Identity (Transphobic)

The Crime Recording system was changed so that the perceived religion could be recorded as well as a victim’s actual religion. The disability hate crime marker was further categorised to include mobility impairment, visual impairment, hearing impairment, learning difficulties, unseen disability, mental health and an option prefer not to say. These were headings defined by members of the Disability Reference Group.

There are limitations in regard to the use of hate strand markers. The searches will only retrieve crime records where a hate strand marker has been applied. Therefore the quality of the data relies on the consistency of use. However, the majority of these crimes should be captured.

Our use of hate strand markers is for internal use and cannot be compared with the Home Office figures. The dates that the data were retrieved, the validation processes and data parameters are different.

Statistics

The statistics presented below use WMPs outcome code. A key for the outcomes can be found here or within the tab in each spreadsheet. The data is correct as of 6th May 2016. The year shown is the date the crime was recorded, which is not necessarily the date that the crime was committed.

Racism

Any criminal offence which is perceived, by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by hostility or prejudice towards a person based on their race or perceived race.

Racism Statistics 2015/16
Racism Statistics 2014/15

Racially/ Religiously Aggravated Offences

There are a number of specific offences where the offender is motivated by hostility or hatred towards the victim’s race or religious beliefs (actual or perceived). Some of these offences were not allocated a hate strand marker when recorded in our systems and so have not been captured in the tables above. Therefore these racially/ religiously aggravated offences which were not given a hate strand marker are included below.

Religious

Any criminal offence which is perceived, by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by hostility or prejudice towards a person based on their religion or perceived religion.

Religion Statistics 2015/16
Religion Statistics 2014/15

Homophobia

Any criminal offence which is perceived, by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by hostility or prejudice towards a person based on their sexual orientation or perceived sexual orientation. Sexual Orientation refers to the victim being Lesbian, Gay or Bisexual.

Homophobia Statistics 2015/16
Homophobia Statistics 2014/15

Transphobic

Any criminal offence which is perceived, by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by hostility or prejudice towards a person who is transgender or perceived to be transgender. Gender identity includes victims at any Trans Status and includes those who hold a gender recognition certificate under the Gender Recognition Act 2004.

Transphobic Statistics 2015/16
Transphobic Statistics 2014/15

Disability

Any criminal offence which is perceived, by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by hostility or prejudice towards a person based on their disability or perceived disability. This includes victims who have any disability or impairment whether physical, mental and or other.

Disability 2015/16
Disability 2014/15