In most serious cases, the hate crime is considered to be a criminal offense. When a person is charged with a crime, they are called “the accused” and the criminal charges are examined in criminal proceedings.
Aggravating circumstances
In Latvia, the Criminal Law establishes that any crime committed with a biased motive towards an individual or a group due to the victim‘s race, nationality, ethnicity or religion may be considered to have aggravating circumstances. This means that due to the committed hate crime, the person is charged with such criminal offense as, for example, murder, bodily harm or property damage, but during the trial the court can take into account the aggravating circumstances, namely, the bias motive, when adopting the decision. In general, aggravating circumstances can be applied to all crimes, established in the Criminal Law.
[example] A person with a dark skin has been attacked and seriously harmed with a biased motive due to the person’s race.
However, the court can also not take into account the aggravating circumstances but recognize that in addition to the particular offense committed, as, for example, bodily harm, the person has also committed another crime, namely, triggering of national, ethnic and racial hatred or incitement of social hatred and enmity.
Read more about the right to a fair trial in criminal proceedings.
Triggering of national, ethnic, racial and religious hatred
If a person has committed a crime with a motive to trigger national, ethnic, racial or religious hatred or enmity, it may be charged with two (or more) criminal offenses simultaneously: for the “base” offense done, for example, murder, bodily harm or property damage, and also for the triggering of national, ethnic, racial and religious hatred which is a substantive criminal offense, too. In such situation, aggravating circumstances are not additionally considered.
important The competent authorities and court have to thoroughly evaluate each hate crime case individually in order to decide whether it had a bias motive as an aggravating circumstance or whether it had a motive to trigger hatred in society.
example A person with a dark skin has been attacked and seriously harmed with a motive to incite racial hatred in society.
Read more about the right to a fair trial in criminal proceedings.
Incitement of social hatred and enmity
If a person has committed a crime with a motive to incite social hatred or enmity depending on the person’s gender, age, disability or any other characteristic, and a substantial harm has been caused thereby, it may be charged with two (or more) criminal offenses simultaneously: for the “base” offense done, for example, murder, bodily harm or property damage, and also for incitement of social hatred and enmity, which is a substantive criminal offense, too. In such situation, aggravating circumstances are not additionally considered.
note The characteristics are not exclusively listed in the law, so that potentially broad scope of victims may be protected. Therefore, this norm also regards, for example, person’s sexual orientation, refugee status, etc.
important The competent authorities and court have to thoroughly evaluate each hate crime case individually in order to decide whether it had a biased motive as an aggravating circumstance or whether it had a motive to incite social hatred and enmity in society.
example A homosexual person’s car was seriously damaged and covered with insulting statements with a motive to incite social hatred and enmity against homosexual persons in society.
Read more about the right to a fair trial in criminal proceedings.
Hate speech
Hate speech is not a hate crime, as it has a different structure from it. Unlike hate crime, hate speech does not have the element of the “base offence”. That means, if the hate speech would not contain the bias or intolerance motive, there would be no criminal offence to be punished, only an expression of a person.
However, hate speech and hate crimes have certain similar characteristics, namely, both are motivated by hatred or intolerance against individuals or groups based on certain attributes. Sometimes during the hate crime, perpetrator may also publicly express hate or violence based on the victim’s ethnicity, religion or other characteristics. Thus, in Latvia hate speech is often mentioned by public authorities and individuals in the context of hate crimes and sometimes categorized as a hate crime.
The Criminal Law distinguishes hate speech as a substantive criminal offence. For the crime to be considered hate speech, it must fit the description of hate speech outlined in the Article 78 or Article 150 of the Criminal Law.
Read more about hate speech and the differences between hate crimes and hate speech.