Patterns of hate crime: who, what, when and where?

In an age where hate and prejudice transfer seamlessly from online conversations to our communities, we have a duty to protect the most vulnerable among us. Part of this process involves the effective reporting and distribution of data on hate crimes in our cities and suburbs. Understanding where these crimes are taking place, who the targets are and how themes like race, religion and sexual orientation play a role is essential to creating awareness of the problems we face, and allows us to take steps towards creating safe, equitable environments. Demos’ partnership with the University of Sussex allowed us to take a look at data collected by the Metropolitan Police Service with the ultimate goal of identifying the existing targets of hate crime, and assisting the Police Service in their efforts to improve the ways in which hate crimes are recorded. Current methods enable officers to flag transgender hate crimes but do not allow them to record the gender identities of either suspects or victims as transgender or non-binary, creating a significant gap within the data. When the most at-risk members of our society are not adequately included in hate crime records, they are effectively silenced. By updating existing systems of classification, there is an opportunity to better identify and protect minority communities within the UK.