Even when the perpetrator mistakes a victim as having a characteristic towards which the perpetrator has a bias, such an offense should still be considered to be a hate crime.
When identifying whether an offense can be considered to be a hate crime, it is actually more important to identify whether the perpetrator’s actions were undertaken because the perpetrator wished to express hatred towards people with a certain characteristic, rather than finding out whether the victims actually possessed such a characteristic.
Even in cases where the victim does not possess the characteristics towards which the perpetrator has a bias, the offence should be considered a hate crime.
example A woman was attacked on the street by a perpetrator because she was wearing a hijab. The perpetrator was motivated by the idea that the woman was a Muslim, although she was an atheist and wore the hijab as an accessory.
It should be kept in mind that such crimes are not generally aimed at specific victims on a personal basis, but rather the whole community possessing a common characteristic. Hate crimes are committed as a way of sending a message to not only the victim, but also to the larger community to which that victim belongs. Thus, even when the perpetrator mistakenly chooses a victim who does not possess the characteristic in question, the offense is more serious than an offense without a biased motive.