Hate crimes may happen in various circumstances, so you should be aware of different situations where an offence could be considered to be a hate crime.
Usually people think that victims of hate crimes are either people who have a certain characteristic or groups of people with a certain characteristic, such as, for example, race, gender, or sexual orientation. However, there are a lot of different situations and consequently also different types of victims of hate crimes. Hate crimes are sometimes directed at people who do not have the characteristic against which the perpetrator has a bias, some also become victims by association.
It is important to know the different situations in which hate crimes may occur, to evaluate whether the experience that you or someone else has had could be considered to be a hate crime.
About this section
This section of the Guide will explain different types of hate crimes victims.