Reported Transgender Hate Crime Increases By 81%

The number of transgender hate crimes recorded by police forces in England, Scotland and Wales has risen by 81%, latest figures suggest.

Data obtained by the BBC showed there were 1,944 crimes across 36 forces in the last financial year compared with 1,073 in 2016-17.

The charity Stonewall said it showed the "consequences of a society where transphobia is everywhere".

The Home Office said it was "committed to tackling hate crime".

Some 36 out of 44 police forces in England, Scotland and Wales fully responded to a BBC freedom of information request for their most up to date figures. Eight forces did not provide the full data.

Warwickshire Reports

In Warwickshire, figures in 2017/18 went up to 9, compared to 2 the year before. Statistically, this was a 350% increase in reports year on year. In 2018/19, the figure stayed at a similar level, with 8 transgender hate crimes reported to Police.

Equal rights charity Stonewall estimated that two in five trans people had experienced a hate crime or incident in the past year.

The increase in the number of reports is being put down to an increase in the confidence of the trans community reporting hate offences which they fall vicitm to. 

A Home Office spokesperson said: "Abuse or violence directed at someone on the basis of their transgender identity is never acceptable. That's why we are committed to tackling hate crime in all its forms, including abuse targeted at transgender people, through the government's hate crime action plan."

The full BBC News report can be found here, which includes a table of the numbers of reported transgender hate crimes from forces which responded the the freedom of information request. 

In Warwickshire, reports of transgender hate crime can be made to the Police on 101. In an emergency dial 999. If, for whatever reason, you do not wish to report to the Police, you can report hate incidents to the Warwickshire Hate Crime Partnership via the reporting page of this website.