Racially/Religiously Aggravated Offences
Any offences are automatically made more serious if it can be proven that the offence itself was motivated by racial or religious hatred.
The courts take offences of this nature very seriously and they are often known as hate crimes. Even if there is a racially or religiously aggravated feature to the lesser charge of S5 Public Order it makes matters much more serious. The Courts have been given guidance that they have to announce a specific uplift to any sentence. So if you refer to the section on Public Order matters and the sentencing guidelines outlined there, the sentence given will be more severe if the allegation is racially aggravated.