Law Commission Hate Crime law recommendations

The final report of the Law Commission's consultation, Hate Crime: should the current offences be extended?, has been published.

The main recommendations of the report are listed below.

For Enhanced sentencing it is recommended:

that there be new guidance from the Sentencing Council on the sentencing approach in hate crime cases; and
that every time enhanced sentencing is applied, this should be recorded on the offender’s criminal record in the Police National Computer (PNC) so that the record will show the offence was aggravated by hostility, just as it would show a conviction for an aggravated offence.

These reforms should be introduced whether or not aggravated offences are extended.

For aggravated offences it is recommended:

that prior to any extension of aggravated offences, there a full-scale review of their operation. Such a review should examine all the available data to establish whether such offences - and the enhanced sentencing system - should be retained in their current form or amended.
that if recommendation 1 is not supported by Government, that the aggravated offences be extended to disability, sexual orientation and transgender identity.

For stirring up offences it is recommended that there be no extension to include new offences.