New figures show fall in transphobic hate crime in Hertfordshire – despite national rise

Hertfordshire saw fewer hate crimes committed against transgender people in 2022 to 2023 than during the year before.

New figures from the Home Office show Hertfordshire Constabulary recorded 36 hate crimes against transgender people in the year to March – a fall from 40 in 2021 to 2022.

This is despite an 11 per cent rise in anti-transgender offences across England and Wales, with more than 4,700 crimes recorded in 2022 to 2023.

LGBTQ+ group Stonewall has criticised political leaders for not having acted ‘seriously or quickly enough’ against hate crime, adding “Many of them are filling the public domain with toxic language that dehumanises LGBTQ+ people."

In its write-up of the statistics, the Home Office said: "Transgender issues have been heavily discussed by politicians, the media and on social media over the last year, which may have led to an increase in these offences, or more awareness in the police in the identification and recording of these crimes."

Overall, Hertfordshire Constabulary recorded 1,430 hate crimes in 2022 to 2023 – down from 1,675 the year before.

Among these, 77 per cent were motivated by race or ethnicity, 14 per cent by sexual orientation, seven per cent by religious belief, while four per cent of hate crimes were against those with disabilities.

Individual offences can have more than one motivating factor.

Last year saw the first recorded drop in hate crime offences across England and Wales – falling from 153,500, in 2021 to 2022, to 145,200 in the year to March.

This excludes Devon and Cornwall Police, which could not provide figures because of IT issues.

However, Victim Support – a charity for those impacted by crime and abuse – suggested declining trust in police forces across the country could be responsible for the drop in police-recorded hate crimes.

Becca Rosenthal, national hate crime lead at the charity, said: "Those we support increasingly tell us they are reluctant to approach the police, so these figures could simply reflect less people reporting to the police. Given this, independent support services for victims have never been more important."

A spokesperson for the Home Office said there is ‘no place for hate in our society’ and the Government remains ‘committed to ensuring these abhorrent offences are stamped out’.

They added: "We are pleased there has been an overall reduction in hate crimes recorded by police, and the numbers of sexual orientation, race and disability hate crimes all fell. But any instance is one too many.

"We expect the police to fully investigate these hateful attacks and make sure the cowards who commit them feel the full force of the law."