What is hate crime?
什麼是仇恨犯罪？

23 minutes to read

Definition

Hate crime = criminal offence + hate element

A 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：

disability or perceived disability
race or perceived race
religion or perceived religion
sexual orientation or perceived sexual orientation or
transgender or perceived transgender identity¹

In short, a hate crime is any action that is currently considered as a criminal offence under UK law that has a hate element.

法律定義

仇恨犯罪 = 一般刑事犯罪 + 仇恨因素

仇恨犯罪是任何受敵意或偏見所驅使的刑事犯罪。當受害者或其他人認為加害者是出於對受害人的:

殘疾
種族
宗教信仰
性取向或
跨性別者身分

…的敵意或歧視而進行犯罪時，此類犯罪行為就構成仇恨犯罪。需要注意的是，只要加害人主觀認定受害人有某一特徵並且對此特徵抱有敵意或歧視，更進一步實施犯罪行為，那麼這一行為就構成仇恨犯罪，受害者並不需要真的擁有這一特徵。¹

簡而言之，任何受仇恨驅動，且目前在英國現行法律下被視作刑事犯罪的行為都是仇恨犯罪。

What is a hate element?

The hate element can take the form of:

Hostility: ill-will, ill-feeling, spite, prejudice, unfriendliness, antagonism, resentment, and dislike.
Prejudice: a baseless and often negative preconception or attitude towards members of a group.

The victim does not need to personally perceive the incident to be hate-related. It would be enough if another person, a witness or even a police officer thought that the incident was hate related.

仇恨因素的定義是什麼？

仇恨因素包括以下：

敵意：惡意、惡感、怨恨、偏見、不友善、敵視、憎惡、反感
偏見：一種針對某一個特定群體並且毫無根據的、通常來說是負面的成見或態度。

需要注意的是，並不是只有當受害人自己有察覺到仇恨才算仇恨因素。只要有另外一個人（比如目擊者或警察）認為加害人是受仇恨因素所驅動，那麼該事件就能被定性為仇恨事件。

Forms of hate crime

As mentioned above, as any criminal offence with a hate element is a hate crime, it can take place anywhere and in any form. Below are some examples of the types of crimes that could potentially involve a hate element:

Assaults
Criminal damage
Harassment
Murder
Sexual assault
Theft
Burglary
Hate mail

仇恨犯罪的種類

如上所述，仇恨犯罪是帶有仇恨因素的刑事犯罪。它可能在任何地點以任何形式發生。以下是一些最常見的仇恨犯罪形式：

襲擊
刑事破壞
刑事騷擾
謀殺
性犯罪
偷竊
入室盜竊
仇恨信件

Inciting hatred

Hate crime can also be in the form of incitement of hatred.

This occurs when the person does not directly conduct hateful actions or speech against the victim, but they act in a way that is threatening and intends to stir up hatred. This could be through words, pictures, videos, music, and includes information posted on websites.

Specific examples of incitement of hatred include:

Social media posts that call for violence against a specific person or group
Web pages that show pictures, videos or descriptions of violence against anyone due to their perceived differences
Chat forums where people ask other people to commit hate crimes against a specific person or group²

Under the current legislation, it is a criminal offence to incite hatred on the grounds of race, religion and sexual orientation.³ However, if you are aware of incitement of hatred on any other grounds, you should still report it as a hate crime.

煽動仇恨

煽動仇恨也是仇恨犯罪的一種形式。

當煽動者並未直接對一個人採取仇恨行為或發表仇恨言論，而是通過某些行為試圖挑起他人針對某個人或群體的仇恨時，這就構成煽動仇恨。這裏的煽動行為可包括文字、圖片、影像、音樂和在網站上發佈信息。

煽動仇恨的具體例子包括：

在社交媒體上號召他人對某個人或群體採取暴力行動
通過在網站上發佈圖片、影像或關於暴力的文字描述煽動的他人對某個人或群體的仇恨
在聊天室要求他人對某個人或群體進行仇恨犯罪²

根據現行法律，煽動他人對某個種族、宗教和性取向群體的仇恨屬於刑事犯罪。³ 但是，如果您察覺到任何針對某個人或群體煽動仇恨的行為（不論該行為是否與種族、宗教或性取向有關），您都可以向警方舉報。

Hate crime or incident?

Hate incident = an action that is not a criminal offence + hate element

A hate incident is any incident which the victim, or anyone else, thinks is based on someone’s prejudice towards them because of their:

disability or perceived disability
race or perceived race
religion or perceived religion
sexual orientation or perceived sexual orientation or
transgender or perceived transgender identity

In short, in a hate incident, the actions involved in the incident is not currently a criminal offence under the UK law.

Regardless of whether it is a hate crime/hate incident, the victim should always be encouraged to make a report. The police strongly encourages the report of BOTH hate crime AND hate incidents.

仇恨犯罪還是仇恨事件？

仇恨事件 = 不是刑事犯罪的行為 + 仇恨因素

仇恨事件是任何受敵意或偏見所驅使的事件。當受害者或其他人認為一個人是出於對受害人的：

殘疾
種族
宗教信仰
性取向或
跨性別者身分

…的敵意或歧視而進行騷擾行為時，這就構成仇恨事件。

簡而言之，仇恨事件是指任何受仇恨因素驅使、但在英國目前的法律框架下尚不是刑事犯罪的行為。

不管受害人所遭受的是仇恨犯罪還是仇恨事件，他們都可以將其舉報給警方。警方強烈鼓勵民眾對仇恨犯罪以及仇恨事件進行舉報。

Case studies

Below we have provided a number of case studies to help work through incidents you or members of your community may encounter. Please read through them and think about whether one of the following has occurred:

Hate crime
Hate incident
General crime
None of the above

案例分析

在下文中，我們提供了幾個案例供您與您的社區成員參考。請判斷以下案例分別屬於下列哪種情況：

仇恨犯罪
仇恨事件
一般犯罪
以上皆不是

Case Study 1

“Due to a disability I walk with a cane. I was on my way to the shopping mall when a group of young people started following me. They laughed and pretended to walk with a cane. Then they kicked my walking cane. I fell down and they ran away.”

The group of people has caused physical harm to the person, which constitutes a criminal offence. This is clearly motivated by the hostility towards the person’s disability. This is a typical example of a hate crime.

案例1

“我由於身體殘疾必須拄拐走路。有一天，我正朝著商場走去，突然一群年輕人跟了過來。他們一邊笑一邊模仿拄拐走路的樣子。之後，他們踢了我的拐杖。我摔倒之後他們就跑走了。”

評論：這群人對敘述者已經造成了身體傷害，該行為構成了刑事犯罪。顯而易見的，該犯罪行為是受這群人對敘述者的身體殘疾的偏見和/或敵意所驅使的。這是典型的仇恨犯罪。

Case Study 2

“My next-door neighbour is very noisy. He plays loud music late at night. When I asked him to turn down the music after 10 p.m. because I must wake up early for my work, he yelled offensive things at me. The next day I found offensive graffiti on my car”

Graffiti on cars could constitute criminal damage. The verbal abuse involved could also constitute a criminal offence depending on the circumstances. If the offensive things yelled and the content of the graffiti show hostility or prejudice towards the person’s characteristics, it would involve a hate element and therefore be a hate crime/incident. From the limited information provided, it is difficult to determine the exact nature of the incidents.

案例2

”我的鄰居非常吵鬧，他常常在深夜時大聲播放音樂。我請他在晚上10點之後把音量調小，因為我早上需要早起上班。他聽完之後對我喊了很多侮辱性的話。第二天，我在我的車上發現了帶有侮辱性內容的塗鴉。“

評論：在私人財產上的塗鴉可能構成刑事破壞。言語上的侮辱根據具體情況也可能構成刑事犯罪。而如果塗鴉和口頭侮辱的內容中帶有明顯針對敘述者個人特徵的攻擊，那麼這就構成了仇恨因素。如果以上幾點都成立，那麼上述事件就可被視為仇恨事件或仇恨犯罪。但是，由於案例中所給的信息有限（比如，侮辱性言語和塗鴉的具體內容、敘述者或其他人是否認為這些行為是受仇恨所驅使），我們很難對該事件進行定性。

Case Study 3

“Somebody posted a tweet on twitter that said transgender women are all disgusting and shouldn’t be allowed in public”

In this case there is a clear hate element in the hostility and prejudice shown against transgender women. Under the current law, using threatening words or behaviour, or displaying any written material which is threatening, is guilty of an offence if the person intends to stir up hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation.⁴ However, this provision currently does not cover transgender identity. Regardless of the exact legal nature of this act, it constitutes a hate incident.

案例3

“有人在推特上發佈了一條推文，稱所有跨性別女性都是噁心的，並表示她們不應該被允許進入公眾場合。”

評論：顯而易見的，此處針對跨性別女性的惡意構成仇恨因素。在目前的法律框架下，通過威脅性語言或行為、或通過展示任何威脅性文字煽動對某一個性取向群體的惡意是違法的。⁴ 目前該法律尚不覆蓋跨性別身分。不過，不論該行為是否構成刑事犯罪，這都是一個仇恨事件，應當被舉報。

Case Study 4

“Somebody handed out flyers in the town centre saying that Chinese people are all to blame for Coronavirus and that Chinese people in England need to be punished with violence”

The message displayed can be seen as expressing prejudice and hostility towards Chinese people, and therefore can be considered a hate element. The act itself may amount to a criminal offence ‘displaying to another person any writing, sign or other visible representation which is threatening, abusive or insulting.⁵ However, it ultimately depends on the specific facts of the case and the eventual prosecution outcome.

案例4

“有些人在鎮中心向路人發送傳單，說新冠病毒會發生都是中國人的錯，在英國的中國人都應當被暴力懲治。”

評論：該訊息可被視作是針對中國人的偏見與惡意，可構成仇恨因素。按照目前的法律，案例中的行為可能構成“向他人發送具有威脅性或侮辱性的文字、標語或其他視覺信息”這一刑事罪名。⁵ 但是，罪名是否成立最終將取決於個案情況以及起訴結果。

Summary

The purpose of the case studies shown above is to illustrate that there is a fine line between hate crimes, hate incidents and other general crime. It can be incredibly difficult to distinguish one from another. The police strongly encourages the report of BOTH hate crime and hate incidents. The victim should never be required to work out the nature of the event before to be “eligible” to make a report.

When making a report, the victim should mention that hate is involved if they subjectively experienced so.

結論

以上案例的目的是為了闡明：仇恨犯罪、仇恨事件、和一般犯罪的區分在有些情況下可能非常困難。警察的立場是鼓勵民眾積極舉報仇恨事件以及仇恨犯罪。無論受害人遭受的是仇恨事件還是仇恨犯罪，他們都有報案的資格及權利。

如果受害人主觀上感受到了仇恨，那麼在報案時，受害人應對警方說明這一點。

Why report hate crime and hate incidents?

When you report hate crime, you become part of the movement to stop it. No matter how small or trivial you think the incident might be, it is important to the whole community that it is acknowledged and reported.

Every report builds up a picture of what is really going on in your local area, showing patterns of behaviour against a certain group or by particular individuals.

Reporting of the issue can:

Help police adjust plans like where, when and how they deploy resources.
Help local agencies like the police and councils understand the issue, so that they can educate, inform and protect everyone in the area. For example, councils can mobilise community engagement and community safety teams and commission trainings for the public.
Build a more accurate statistical picture of the issue and inform prosecutors, legislators and raise awareness with the general public.

Even if you think your report might not lead to any immediate substantive results, it will benefit the wider community.

Metropolitan Police, ‘What is hate crime?’ ↩
College of Policing, ‘Major investigation and public protection’ ↩
Public Order Act 1986, Part 3A ↩
Ibid. ↩
Ibid, section 4 ↩

我們為何應當舉報仇恨犯罪/事件？

所有的舉報都會替仇恨犯罪的遏制出一份力。不管您認為您所遭受的事件是否嚴重，您的舉報都會幫助社群變得更加安全，並幫助您的社群更好地理解仇恨問題的規模。

每份舉報都将幫助完善各個社區的信息，並揭露任何针对特定群体或个人的犯罪行为模式。

舉報仇恨事件以及仇恨犯罪還可：

幫助當地警方調整針對該社區的規劃，比如警力資源的分佈。
幫助當地的政府機構（比如警察或市政府）更好地理解仇恨問題，使他們能夠更好地教育並保護他們轄區中的居民。譬如說，當地政府可以調動社區保護團隊等並給公眾舉辦訓練。
幫助建立更準確的仇恨犯罪數據資料，這些數據可以被用於向檢察官、立法者和公眾說明問題的嚴重性。

就算您认为您的举报在短期內不會有任何實質性的結果，您的舉報仍將使廣大的社群受益。

Metropolitan Police, ‘What is hate crime?’ ↩
College of Policing, ‘Major investigation and public protection’ ↩
Public Order Act 1986, Part 3A ↩
Ibid. ↩
Ibid, section 4 ↩

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