(The information below is for guidance only - if necessary, seek legal advice)

The Crime and Disorder 1998 Act was a significant step in addressing racial and religious hatred, creating a legal framework for prosecuting racially and religiously motivated crimes. It introduced racially and religiously aggravated offences, creating more serious versions of existing crimes where the offence was motivated by hostility towards someone's race or religion. This meant harsher sentences could be applied. The Act's Section 28 defines an offence as aggravated if the offender demonstrated or was motivated by hostility based on race, colour, nationality, ethnic/national origins, or religious belief. Prosecutors can apply for a sentence uplift for these offences under this legislation, which has since been supplemented by the Sentencing Code 2020.

Sections 29-32 of the Act created specific aggravated versions of offences like assault, criminal damage, harassment, and threatening behaviour. For an offence to be racially or religiously aggravated, the offender must have either demonstrated hostility towards the victim based on their racial or religious group membership or been motivated by hostility towards members of a racial or religious group. These aggravated offences carry higher maximum penalties than their non-aggravated equivalents.

While the Act focused on race and religion, later amendments extended the scope, and the Sentencing Code 2020 allows courts to treat hostility based on other characteristics (like disability, sexual orientation, and transgender identity) as an aggravating factor under Section 66 of the Sentencing Code.