Convictions for race and religious hate crimes in England and Wales have reached an eight-year high, according to newly released figures from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). In 2025, there were 6,163 convictions for a principal offence classified as racially or religiously aggravated, marking a 13% increase from 5,430 in 2024. This is the highest total since 2017, when 6,179 convictions were recorded.
The data, published on Thursday as part of a scheduled statistical release, comes in the same week that two Jewish men were injured in an apparent antisemitic attack in north London. This incident is the latest in a series of attacks targeting Jewish sites in the capital over recent weeks.
The MoJ figures do not break down convictions by specific religion. However, more than two-thirds of convictions in 2025 (70%) were for public order offences, 15% for violence against the person, and 2% for criminal damage and arson. The remaining convictions were classified as summary offences, which are generally considered less serious and are tried in magistrates' court without a jury.
Analysis of the MoJ data by the Press Association reveals that the most common type of conviction was for racially or religiously aggravated intentional harassment, alarm, or distress using words or writing. These offences fall under the Public Order Act 1986 and can involve threatening, abusive, or insulting words or behaviour, or displaying any writing deemed threatening, abusive, or insulting. Crimes motivated by racial or religious hate can result in longer sentences.
The Home Office explained that this offence covers a wide range of incidents, such as shouting abuse in the street or spraying graffiti, but is unlikely to cover online abuse, which is generally addressed under the Online Safety Act or the Malicious Communications Act.
Offences involving words or writing accounted for 3,996 of the 6,163 convictions in 2025, or nearly two-thirds (65%), according to the Press Association analysis. This is up from 3,473 in 2024 and represents the highest annual number of convictions for race and religious hate crime involving words or writing since current data records began in 2010. The average custodial sentence for this offence was three months.
Additionally, there were 649 convictions in 2025 for racially or religiously aggravated common assault or beating, up from 610 in 2024 and the highest since 725 in 2019.
Figures released last year showed that religious hate crime offences recorded by police in England and Wales had reached a record high. Data published by the Home Office in October 2025 indicated that Jewish people experienced the highest rate of religious hate crimes targeted towards them compared to any other faith group. In the year to March 2025, there were 106 religious hate crimes per 10,000 population targeted at Jewish people. The next highest rate was for hate crimes targeted at Muslims, with 12 per 10,000 population.
Not including those recorded by the Metropolitan Police, hate crimes targeted at Muslims increased by nearly a fifth, from 2,690 offences in 2023/24 to 3,199 offences in 2024/25. The Home Office noted a "clear spike" in such offences in August 2024, coinciding with the Southport murders and subsequent disorder in several English towns and cities.
Separate figures published this year by the Community Security Trust (CST) found that 2025 had the second-highest annual total for anti-Jewish hate incidents, with 3,700 incidents recorded, a 4% increase from 3,556 in 2024. The CST, which monitors antisemitism in the UK, said the annual record high remains at 4,298 antisemitic incidents reported in 2023, the year of the October 7 attack, which prompted a spike in recorded cases of anti-Jewish hate. Last year was also the first time more than 200 cases of anti-Jewish hate were recorded in every calendar month, the CST added.
The CST report noted that dozens of antisemitic incidents were reported in the aftermath of the deadly Manchester synagogue attack, with some celebrating the event. Worshippers Melvin Cravitz and Adrian Daulby were killed when Jihad Al-Shamie, 35, a Syrian-born British citizen, drove into the gates of the Heaton Park synagogue in Crumpsall, Manchester, in October last year, and then began attacking with a knife while wearing a fake suicide belt. It was the first fatal antisemitic terror attack in the UK since the CST began recording incidents in 1984.
Meanwhile, anti-Muslim hate monitoring organisation Tell Mama reported receiving 913 reports between June and September 2025, with references to 17 mosques and Islamic institutions being targeted. The organisation stated that in the seven days following Tommy Robinson's Unite the Kingdom rally on September 13, which saw over 100,000 attendees in central London and around 5,000 anti-racism demonstrators, it received reports of 157 anti-Muslim hate incidents.
