METHODOLOGY OF DETECTING AND PROVING HATE CRIME

Abstract

A hate crime is any act that is prohibited under criminal law, i.e. a basic offense and motivated by prejudice based on a specific characteristic of the victim (Murder, Art. 123, paragraph 2, item 4 of the Criminal Code, Bodily Injury, Art. 130, paragraph 2 of the Criminal Code, Serious Bodily Injury, Art. 131, paragraph 2 of the Criminal Code, etc.). The justification for this paper is based primarily on the frequent occurrence of this type of crime in society, the danger arising from their frequency, the profile and age of the perpetrators, the manner in which it is committed, as well as the consequences that arise from the commission of this type of crime. The Public Prosecutor's Office, as a guardian of the public interest, is also faced with new challenges, such as how to respond to this type of crime, how to recognize it, what methods to use to prove it, i.e. to provide credible evidence (legally relevant and legally obtained) on the one hand, and on the other hand, the prosecution of this type of crime should be carefully balanced, because the line between freedom of speech as a fundamental right of the individual and hate crime is thin, and at a given moment it cannot be identified. Hence, in a time of great availability of information, the way in which people communicate with each other, both here and around the world, undoubtedly indicates that this type of crime is already crossing national borders and jurisdictions, and is taking on wider international proportions. In some jurisdictions, hate crime is also treated within the framework of extremist or politically motivated crime. There are several indicators for recognizing this type of crime, and these are most often: circumstances related to the victim (national, ethnic, religious and other minority), circumstances related to the object of the attack, circumstances related to the perpetrator, the time and place of the crime, as well as the perception of the victim, i.e. whether the perpetrator is perceived as motivated to commit such a hate crime or not. The way of treating this type of crime requires the application of specific methods at an early stage of detection, i.e. during the previous procedure (pre-investigation and investigation), the skill and application of more innovative methods by the Prosecutor's Office, in cooperation with the judicial police, certainly gives the expected results from the aspect of proof. The incrimination of this type of crime in our legislation is not distinguished as a separate one, i.e. it appears as a qualifying, i.e. more serious form, of the basic titles of the crimes.