Reporting Hate Crime and Prejudice Incidences in the Trans Community:

A Study of Attitudes and Approaches to Facilitate Change

Abstract

This research will explore whether changes in reporting hate crime and prejudice incidences (HCPI) can be seen since the 2014 Leicester Hate Crime Project with particular focus on whether Trans now felt more able to report HCPI due to a belief that their cases would be well received by the police; following recommendations made by the previous research. A small scale research project with 18 participants selected through stratified and snowball sampling was carried out. Data was collected via primary research through questionnaires given to members of the Trans Community (TC). Secondary research involved a literature review to support primary findings by considering issues with the care and management of Transgender prisoners as this area in particular highlights both their vulnerability and mistreatment. The results from this study suggest that there is some increase in Trans confidence to report incidences since the 2014 study but there are still uncertainties around what constitutes a hate crime, particularly verbal, this may impact on behaviour of both perpetrators of hate crime and the Trans victims. Suggestions are presented on how future work could bring about better community cohesion, enable clarity around what constitutes a hate crime and ensure stricter reinforcement of the laws to protect this vulnerable group.