This publication provides information on the number of hate crimes from police recorded data in England and Wales from April 2015 to March 2016. The bulletin covers the extent and trends in hate crime for all forces, with additional analysis based upon more detailed data supplied by 24 police forces on the types of offences associated with hate crime.

Hate crime is defined as ‘any criminal offence which is perceived, by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by hostility or prejudice towards someone based on a personal characteristic.’ There are five centrally monitored strands of hate crime:

race or ethnicity

religion or beliefs

sexual orientation

disability

transgender identity

The publication includes information on racist incidents in England and Wales recorded by the police from April 2015 to March 2016. A ‘racist incident’ is any incident, including any crime, which is perceived by the victim or any other person to be motivated by a hostility or prejudice based on a person’s race or perceived race. This release includes an Annex on racially and religiously aggravated offences around the European Union (EU) referendum.