The Justice Minister has outlined how new hate crime legislation will be enforced.
The proposals will introduce aggravated forms of existing crimes with harsher penalties.
This will include offences committed against someone because of their race, colour, nationality, religion, gender, disability, or sexual orientation.
There will be two tests for whether something is a hate crime.
One is a motivation test - trying to establish what was going through someone's mind at the moment they committed the crime.
The new provision is called a 'demonstration test' - whether they demonstrated hatred while committing a crime.
Evidence potentially includes the use of hostile or prejudiced slurs, gestures, other symbols or graffiti at the time of offending.
It's being added to the bill as the Justice Minister thought simply trying to get inside a perpetrators mind as proof would be difficult and lead to some cases not being prosecuted.
