Abstract
Considering the infringements upon the principle of equality caused by hate crimes, as well as the negative impact of such crimes not only on their victims but also on other persons within the same group of vulnerable people, the authors of this paper analyse hate speech as a criminally punishable act. The analysis of this issue is of essential importance as hate speech manifests on the internet, often via comments made online, a worrying issue as hate speech is therefore often tolerated. This article raises the question of the delimitation of hate speech from hate crime; the authors present an analytical overview of national and international case law, providing an insight into the process of distinguishing hate speech from a person’s right to exercise their freedom of self-expression. A separate section covers the challenges that law enforcement authorities face when investigating incidents of hate speech online, where criminal activities often trespass the borders of a single state and their investigation requires tools of international cooperation to receive or transfer electronic evidence.
Highlights
Criminal acts motivated by hate violate, in particular, the principle of equality of persons, which is considered a fundamental constitutional value
Criminal acts motivated by hatred are divided into hate crimes and hate speech that are manifested as information disseminated in any form targeting the most vulnerable groups in society; promoting hatred, discrimination, or bias against them; inciting ridicule, contempt, or discrimination; or exercising violence against such persons
Hate crimes and hate speech are two different categories of criminal act, and the principal criteria for demarcation between the two are the peculiarities of their attributes and the peculiarities of proving the criminal act, which relates to proving the presence of the motive of hate as a subjective feature
Summary
Criminal acts motivated by hate violate, in particular, the principle of equality of persons, which is considered a fundamental constitutional value. Incitement to hatred [authors’ note: the terms incitement to hatred and hate speech are used synonymously in the present paper], the consequences thereof, the severity of the criminal acts, and the scarcity of studies in this area prompted the authors to address the most important issues related to both legal evaluation and procedural evidence-related matters (objective) These issues include: the concept of hate speech; the criteria for the delineation of hate speech from hate crimes and exercising the freedom of self-expression; and the legal procedures for obtaining and transferring e-evidence to other states for the purpose of cross-border investigations of incitements to hatred online (tasks). The selected data was processed using the most common theoretical research methods, such as systemic analysis, induction, and comparative analysis
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