UK makes first alternative subculture hate crime arrests

Recently, a new system of classification was introduced in Manchester, England that categorizes violence against alternative subcultures (those labeled “emo,” “goth,” “punk” and otherwise) as hate crime. According to The Guardian, the first arrests under the new law were made on Monday. A 14-year-old boy and a 44-year-old man were arrested for the alleged assault of a 16-year-old boy who identified as “emo.”

Manchester  enacted the law that would expand their definition of what qualifies a hate crime last week following the five-year campaign of Sylvia Lancaster, whose daughter, Sophie Lancaster (pictured), was kicked to death in 2007, possibly because of the goth style in which she dressed.

You can visit the Sophie Lancaster Foundation website for more information.

Learn more about the law and its background from the Greater Manchester Police via the video below.