By Aston Villa FC

This week is National Hate Crime Awareness Week.
 
Aston Villa support the work of West Midlands Police in their efforts to tackle online hate, and encourage supporters to read the following guidance which covers what a hate crime is and how you can report it.
 
We will work with WM Police, Kick It Out and associated organisations to #StandUpToHate.
AllIn

What are hate incidents?

The police and Crown Prosecution Service have agreed a common definition of hate incidents.

They say something is a hate incident if the victim or anyone else think it was motivated by hostility or prejudice based on one of the following things:

  • disability
  • race
  • religion
  • transgender identity
  • sexual orientation.

This means that if you believe something is a hate incident it should be recorded as such by the person you are reporting it to. All police forces record hate incidents based on these five personal characteristics.

Anyone can be the victim of a hate incident. For example, you may have been targeted because someone thought you were gay even though you’re not, or because you have a disabled child.

When is a hate incident also a hate crime?

When hate incidents become criminal offences they are known as hate crimes. A criminal offence is something which breaks the law of the land.

Any criminal offence can be a hate crime if it was carried out because of hostility or prejudice based on disability, race, religion, transgender identity or sexual orientation.

When something is classed as a hate crime, the judge can impose a tougher sentence on the offender under the Criminal Justice Act 2003.

Incidents which are based on other personal characteristics, such as age and belonging to an alternative subculture, are not considered to be hate crimes under the law. You can still report these, but they will not be prosecuted specifically as hate crimes by the police and the Crown Prosecution Service.

Section 1 of the Malicious Communications Act 1988 creates offences in relation the sending of indecent, offensive or threatening letters, electronic communications or articles with intent to cause the recipient distress or anxiety. 

For example- offensive posts/ messages on twitter/Facebook, Instagram etc…

1(1) Any person who sends to another person -

(a) a letter, electronic communication or article of any description which conveys -

(i) a message which is indecent or grossly offensive;
(ii) a threat; or 
(iii) information which is false and known or believed to be false by the sender; or

(b) any article or electronic communication which is, in whole or in part, of an indecent or grossly offensive nature, is guilty of an offence if his purpose, or one of his purposes, in sending it is that it should, so far as falling within paragraph (a) or (b) above, cause distress or anxiety to the recipient or to any other person to whom he intends that it or its contents or nature should be communicated.

1(2) A person is not guilty of an offence by virtue of subsection 1(a)(ii) above if he shows -

(a) that the threat was used to reinforce a demand made by him on reasonable grounds; and
(b) that he believed and had reasonable grounds for believing that the use of the threat was a proper means of reinforcing the demand.

1(2A) In this section electronic communication includes -

(a) any oral or other communication by means of an electronic communications network; and
(b) any communication (however sent) that is in electronic form.

1(3) In this section references to sending include references to delivering or transmitting and to causing to be sent delivered or transmitted and sender shall be construed accordingly.                                                                                    

Police Actions

  • Arrestable
  • Police will deal with any incident in which any person who receives or views an offensive post or message perceives them to be threatening, abusive, homophobic or racist there are no set terms or phrases.

What we need from you

  • If possible take a screen shot of the post/message in question either using your phone or computer. Please try and capture within the picture/s the time and date the item was posted, the name of the user/profile and any news feed below (This will prove to the court how fellow users have reacted to the post/message).
  • Please do not begin your own investigation into the origins of the sender by accessing their accounts as this may hinder the prosecution
  • There are a number of ways you can report incident of this nature:

Police will require you to provide a statement and produce stills of the messages whether hard copy or digital in order to prosecute the offender at court.

Potential Outcomes 

There are a number of potential outcomes depending on the offence. The majority of cases are charged to court where there is sufficient evidence however in certain circumstances we can look for out of court disposals. Many of these will be alongside education programmes supported by Kick it out. Any out of court disposal requires an admission of guilt and evidence of remorse. We aim that every potential outcome is victim led.

 

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