Hate crime

Hate crime

Hate crime is defined as ‘any criminal offence which is perceived, by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by hostility or prejudice towards someone based on a personal characteristic’ (Home Office). There are five monitored strands of hate crime:

• Race or ethnicity
• Religion
• Sexual orientation
• Disability
• Transgender identity

There were 1,094 recorded hate crime offences in Southampton during 2022/23, a -10% decline from 2021/22. However, this remains +37.3% higher than the pre-pandemic baseline (2019/20) in Southampton. The change over the last year is in keeping with the national picture, with England and Wales experiencing a -5% decrease in police recorded hate crime compared to the previous year; the first annual decline recorded since 2012/13.

A hate crime can have multiple motivating factors (strands). Race continues to be the largest motivating factor of hate crime in Southampton (60.1% in 2022/23), followed by sexual orientation and disability. The Home Office also found the majority of hate crimes across England and Wales to be racially motivated (70%). Additionally, the majority of respondents from the 2023 Southampton community safety survey who witnessed or experienced a hate crime, perceived race or ethnicity as the most common motivating factor (63%), followed by sexual orientation (39%).

The main drivers for increases in hate crime in the last decade, are thought to be greater public confidence to report hate crime and improvements in police recording. Increases seen in Southampton over recent years could also reflect local reporting processes, where individuals reporting a crime are directly asked whether they think the crime is a hate crime or motivated by hate. However, hate crime is still known to be underreported, making it difficult to determine the true picture.

The fall in hate crimes seen locally and nationally in the last year, coincides with the publication of interim guidance on the recording of non-crime hate incidents (NCHIs) by the College of Policing in 2022. This interim guidance instructed officers to consider whether genuine hostility occurred or if an incident could be considered to be free speech. Whilst this was aimed only at the recording of NCHIs, it is possible that the interim guidance may have led to greater scrutiny of what constitutes a hate crime. Home Office counting rules for hate crime has not changed. Therefore, fewer hate crimes being recorded in 2022/23 may not reflect a genuine decline. A new statutory Code of Practice for NCHIs has been published since in June 2023.

Although, there is evidence to suggest that there have been short-term genuine rises in hate crime following trigger events, such as terrorist attacks or political events. For example, increases in hate crime were seen around the EU Referendum in June 2016, terrorist attacks in 2017 and the Black Lives Matter protests and far-right counter protests in summer 2020. There were few potential trigger events identified in 2022/23, but it is important to monitor these alongside community tensions.

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary note that there are greater concentrations of hate crime in densely populated and deprived areas, with neighbour disputes and the night-time economy cited as common triggers. This is evidenced locally, with the highest rate of hate crimes recorded in Bargate ward, followed by Freemantle, Bevois and Shirley wards. All of which had significantly higher rates of hate crime compared to the Southampton city average.

A summary report and slide set produced as part of the 2022/23 Strategic Assessment are available to download below. The interactive community safety dashboard can be accessed using the link below. For more information on crime in Southampton, see the Safe City Strategic Assessment page.