Most recorded hate crimes end without a prosecution decision

Someone who reports racist abuse may see the hate motive officially recognised, then watch the case close before an investigation begins. Brå's work with Roma and Jewish communities shows how that experience can weaken trust and willingness to report.

Brå's latest report followed 3,548 hate-motivated offences registered in 2022 through May 2025. Only 5 percent reached person-based clearance, a prosecution decision, summary sanction or waiver tied to at least one suspect. Forty-six percent closed without investigation and 43 percent after one began.

That is not a conviction rate, and Brå does not say every closed case was mishandled. The government's 2024 plan notes that common hate-crime offences such as harassment, defamation and property damage have low clearance rates generally. Identifying and proving the hate motive is also difficult.

The government has offered an explanation, but not a complete diagnosis. Its plan says investigators may have little incentive to establish a hate motive in serious crimes when doing so will not affect the sentence.

The human risk appears in Brå's Roma study and Jewish study. Interviewees cited distrust, a burdensome process, the feeling that reports lead nowhere and low confidence in police identification and investigation. Brå linked those experiences to lower willingness to report.

In December 2025, the government commissioned Brå to study how the justice system handles antisemitic and other hate crimes. Its findings and proposals are due by 8 April 2027. Until then, the government has acknowledged the gap without publishing the promised detailed diagnosis.

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