Hate crime reporting rates in the North East have skyrocketed in the last year, with Durham and North Yorkshire Police reporting that rates are up 26 per cent and 46 per cent respectively.

Hate crimes are motivated by prejudice or hostility towards a certain characteristic, such as race, religion, sexual orientation or gender.

These crimes can “shatter victims” and have a lasting impact, resulting in lowered self-esteem and self-worth.

Across North Yorkshire and County Durham 1,921 hate crimes were reported between March 2021 and March 2022 in total, an increase of 523.

Read more: LGBT hate crime doubles in the North East in just 5 years

Statistics show that most hate crimes in County Durham and North Yorkshire are racially motivated, which aligns with wider national trends across England and Wales. Both Durham and North Yorkshire Police recorded over 600 race-based hate crimes each.

Nationally, 109,843 race hate crimes were reported in 2021, marking 2021 as the first year where the number of hate crimes reported exceeded 100,000.

Race was not the only reason that people found themselves being targeted – both police forces also recorded a significant number of hate crimes in other categories, with people being attacked for their religion, sexual orientation and gender.

Despite accounting for the smallest proportion of crimes across all categories, transgender hate crimes saw the largest increase on last year’s figures – nationally, England and Wales saw a 56 per cent increase.

Read more: Here's what police said about LGBT hate crime doubling in the North East

A Home Office spokesperson explained that transgender issues have been “heavily discussed on social media” over the last year, potentially contributing to the rise.

“Hate crime is a scourge on communities across the country. It does not reflect the values of modern Britain.”

“We expect the police to fully investigate these hateful attacks and make sure the cowards who commit them feel the full force of the law.”

However, both the Home Office and the Victim Support charity were quick to establish that the outlook on prejudice and hate crime in the UK may not be quite so bleak.

Diana Fawcett, chief executive at the charity Victim Support explained that this increase in rates may be the result of increased better police awareness and incident-logging, so increasing rates could be an “encouraging trend”.

The Home Office warned: “While the rise in cases is likely to be largely driven by improvements in police recording, these can be serious crimes such as assault and we cannot be complacent.”

As part of their Hate Crime Awareness Week campaigns, Durham Constabulary told social media: “Over the summer, we achieved a 90 per cent conviction rate for hate crime offences. We saw a twelve per cent increase in reporting, however, we’re not there yet, we know that around 50 per cent of hate crimes go unreported.”

 

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