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What is a hate crime?

A hate crime is a crime with hate as the motive. The offender acts out of hatred, disdain or hostility against a person because of a protected characteristic such as disability, religion, skin colour, sexual orientation, etc. A hate motive can also be referred to as a discriminatory motive or reprehensible motive.

Examples of hate crimes

  • An offender leaves a gay man for dead out of hostility to gays.
  • An offender insults and beats an African carer out of disdain.
  • An offender with a dislike for people with physical disabilities, assaults a wheelchair user.

What constitutes a hate crime?

A hate crime includes the following elements:

  • Crime: an offence punishable by law.
  • Hate motive: the offender acts out of hatred, disdain or hostility because the victim is gay, has a disability, is old… 
  • Protected characteristic: the protected characteristic can be real or supposed (assumed) by the offender. For example, we speak of 'supposed' when a person is a victim of homophobia because the perpetrator assumed that person was gay.

Good to know:

  • The courts may infer the hate motive from behaviour, utterances, inscriptions, writings...
  • It is sufficient that hatred, disdain or hostility be one of the offender's motives. It does not, therefore, have to be the primary motive and other motives may also come into play.

A crime in which the victim has a bond or presumed bond with persons towards whom the offender harbours hatred, disdain or hostility because of one or more actual or presumed protected characteristics is also considered a hate crime. Example: a (heterosexual) family member comes along to Pride. He becomes a victim of homophobia because he walks down the street with someone carrying a rainbow flag.

Sentences for hate crimes

For hate crimes, theoffender can orshould receive aharsher sentence:

  • Increased mandatory sentence for, for example, manslaughter, assault and battery, sexual offences without consent..
  • Increased optional sentence for cases such as culpable negligence, stalking, slander and defamation...
  • Consider the hate motive when determining the sentence or measure and its severity for all other offences such as violent theft, degrading treatment, online stalking... Note that in these cases, the courts can never impose a higher sentence than the maximum sentence for the offence.

The increased sentence for hate crimes is justified by the great harm such crimes cause both to the victim, the group to which the victim belongs and society as a whole:

  • The victim is singled out because of a personal - and often immutable - characteristic.
  • The offender wants to send the message that certain individuals are not welcome in society and should not participate fully in it. This often has a deep impact on the victim.
  • At the same time, the offender sends out a message to the whole group that shares the victim's characteristics. As a result, hate crimes damage the fabric of society itself. They instil a climate of fear in certain groups and divide society.

Report discrimination

Do you feel you have experienced or witnessed discrimination? Report it online or call the toll-free number 0800 12 800 on weekdays between 9.30 a.m. and 1 p.m.