Hate crime recording and data collection practice across the EU

Abstract

“Across the European Union, people face hatred because of their skin colour, ethnicity, religion, gender or sexuality. In response, the EU and its Member States have introduced laws against hate crime and support services for victims. But these will only fulfil their potential if victims report hate-motivated harassment and violence to the police, and if police officers record such incidents as hate crimes. This report provides rich and detailed information on hate crime recording and data collection systems across the EU, including any systemic cooperation with civil society. Laws against hate crime are in place, imposing increased penalties for bias motivation, and diverse services are available for victims. But are these measures enough? There are two major catches. Only a fraction of victims report hate-motivated harassment and violence to the police. Moreover, even when they do, police officers do not always flag them as hate crimes. Some may not recognise certain incidents as stemming from prejudice. Others may simply lack the necessary practical tools, such as incident reporting forms, that allow racist motivation to be noted – or the inclination to provide information not always deemed obligatory. This means these hate crimes remain unidentified or unrecorded – and thus un-investigated, unprosecuted, uncounted and, ultimately, invisible.”