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Non-crime Hate Incidents

Asked by Mr Andrew SnowdenConservativeAttorney GeneralTabled Answered 4 July 2025UIN 63146

The question

To ask the Solicitor General, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the recording of non-crime hate incidents on the sentencing of individuals in future criminal proceedings.

Answered by Lucy Rigby

All factual matters material to a criminal sentence must be admitted by the offender or proven in a court to the criminal standard using admissible evidence. By definition, the recording of a previous incident as “non-crime” is unlikely to meet that standard.

The Code for Crown Prosecutors sets out the general principles a prosecutor must apply when making a decision as to whether there is sufficient evidence, and whether it is in the public interest, to authorise criminal charges against a suspect. The Crown Prosecution Service has published guidance on bail, the focus of which is on ensuring that the Court is provided with the relevant information to enable it to come to a proper decision as to whether or not to grant bail, with or without conditions. This will be fact specific to the circumstances of the alleged offence and the defendant. The administrative police recording of an earlier incident or allegation, which has previously been determined not to have been a crime, is unlikely to have any relevance to the question of bail.

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