Racially and religiously aggravated offences: “God’s gift to defence”?

The aim of our study was to assess the application of criminal laws (namely racially and religiously aggravated offences) and sentencing provisions for hate crime in England and Wales, and to detail the operational realities of hate crime legislation by gathering experiential accounts of the legislation “in action” from legal professionals. We undertook a thematic analysis of: public policies and publicly available statistics on hate crime; over 100 reported cases; and 71 in-depth, qualitative semi-structured interviews. We interviewed 21 Hate Crime Leads and Hate Crime Coordinators at the CPS; 17 independent barristers; nine Crown Court judges; 11 District Judges (Magistrates’ Courts); six police officers (and linked personnel); six practitioners working for a charitable organisation or civil society organisation that supports victims of hate crime; and one hate crime victim who had been through the court process.