Religious hate crimes at record level since Israel-Hamas conflict

The increase in police recorded religious hate crime from 8,370 to 10,484 offences in the year to March was driven by a rise in offences against Jewish people and to a lesser extent Muslims, the Home Office said.

This is the highest annual count in these offences since the hate crime collection began in the year ending March 2012.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper described the “appalling levels” of antisemitic and Islamophobic hate crimes as “a stain on our society”.

Annually, there were 3,282 religious hate crimes targeted at Jewish people in the year ending March 2024, more than double the number recorded the previous year (1,543).

These offences accounted for a third (33 per cent) of all religious hate crimes in the past year. By comparison, the proportion in the previous year was 20 per cent.

There was also an increase in religious hate crimes targeted against Muslims since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas conflict, with 3,866 offences in the latest year, up 13 per cent from 3,432 recorded the previous year. In the past year, almost two in five (38 per cent) of religious hate crimes were targeted against Muslims.

The most common hate crimes targeted against Jews and Muslims in the past year were public fear, alarm or distress offences.

Since the spike, the number of offences has declined, but to a level higher than seen before the conflict, the Home Office said.

Ms Cooper said: “The appalling levels of antisemitic and Islamophobic hate crimes outlined in today’s figures are a stain on our society, and this Government will work tirelessly to tackle this toxic hatred wherever it is found.

“We must not allow events unfolding in the Middle East to play out in increased hatred and tension here on our streets, and those who push this poison – offline or online – must face the full force of the law.

“The more than doubling of reported antisemitic hate crime and the significant increase in Islamophobic hate crime are very serious. We must have zero tolerance for antisemitism, Islamophobia and every other form of heinous hate in Britain, and we back the police in taking strong action against those targeting our communities.”

Overall, there were 140,561 hate crimes recorded by police in England and Wales in the year ending March 2024, a fall of five per cent from the previous (147,645 offences), and the second consecutive annual fall

Prior to the falls seen over the past two years, police recorded hate crime offences rose between the years ending March 2013 and March 2022; this prolonged period of increasing offences was thought to have been driven by improvements in crime recording and better identification of what constitutes a hate crime, said the Home Office

There were 98,799 race hate crimes, down from 103,625 offences the previous year, which the Home Office says was driven by decreases in public fear, alarm or distress and malicious communication offences

As in previous years, the majority of hate crimes were racially motivated, accounting for seven in ten of all such offences

There were falls in the other three strands of hate crime; sexual orientation hate crimes fell by eight per cent, transgender hate crimes by two per cent, and disability hate crimes by 18 per cent, down from 14,285 to 11,719.

This was the lowest figure for disability hate crimes since the year ending March 2021, when 9,945 offences were recorded.

Again, the falls were largely seen in public fear, alarm or distress and malicious communications offences.