131% Rise In Bournemouth Hate Crimes
Racial and homophobia hate crimes have soared in the seaside town.
Racial hate crimes have risen by 131% in Bournemouth over the last five years, with instances of assaults with injury doubling between 2014 and 2018.
Over the same time period, the occurence of homophobic hate crimes has also doubled. In 2018, more than half involved violence against a person.
There have been a total of 858 racist hate crimes over a five-year period in Bournemouth. While a total of 100 racially-motivated crimes were carried out in 2014, this figure had risen to 231 by 2018. 148 occured in 2015, 212 in 2016 and 167 in 2017. This includes crimes such as burglary, criminal damage, public order and sexual offences.
The second most common type of crime was violence against the person, after public order offences. Within the bracket of violence against the person, a total of 124 instances over five years were classed as Assault with Injury, and a further 172 as Common Assault.
Meanwhile, a further 152 hate crimes based on sexual orientation have been committed in Bournemouth over the same five-year period. The most common type of crime involved violence against a person, rising from 16 instances in 2014 to 24 instances in 2018.
Why did students cover this story?
Lewis, 14, and Cordelia, 14, Bournemouth said, “This affects our daily lives since there is a vast variety of hate crimes within our area, including racism and homophobia.”