Reporting a hate crime or hate incident

Any type of crime can be a hate crime?

This is because when someone commits a crime, it is the motivation behind their actions which may make it a 'hate crime'.

For example, any individual who has been assaulted is a victim of crime and should be supported accordingly. If the offender shouts homophobic abuse before assaulting someone - this becomes a hate crime, as well as an assault.

Where there is evidence that a person has been targeted because of their protected characteristic(s), a judge can increase the offender's sentence?

You don't have to have one of the protected characteristics to be a victim of a hate crime?

If, for instance, you are abused because someone thinks you are gay or that you have a particular faith, it doesn't matter whether their assumptions are accurate - it can still be treated as a hate crime.