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[–]ClassroomPast6178[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

It’s not a “hate crime” charge, the “hate” bit is simply an aggravating factor for the purposes of sentencing. You actually have to commit a criminal offence, like assault or a public order offence.

[–]LyingSpirit472 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

True, but it's the same point- if the officer just is out to get a certain person and wants the book thrown at them, these rules mean that they can claim literally anything the criminal does or does not do as "hate" and can get a longer sentence.

[–]ClassroomPast6178[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Some fairly big steps before that happens. The CPS have to agree that there’s a likelihood of getting a conviction before they will even proceed with a court case, they then have to agree to add the aggravating factors.

The prosecution has to be successful, and they have to actually prove that the aggravating factors happened.

There’s no plea bargaining in England & Wales, so the prosecution can’t load up the charges and aggravating factors and hope you plead guilty to lesser offences. But there are reductions in sentencing if you plead guilty early, and reductions are considerable.

And finally, judges are under much tighter controls regarding summing up and sentencing.

So whilst it is possible, and definitely happened to that poor welsh teenager who upset the troonette police officer, it’s a rarity.

Doesn’t stop the police doing shit like recording “non-crime hate incidents” which are outrageous and there’s court cases pending over those. But nchis don’t lead to trials and prison, they just fuck up someone’s police record for things like background checks. They were also invented by the college of policing and have no basis in law.