Religious hate crimes

“Hate crime (bias-motivated crime)” is a social concept used in early 1990th and has many instances in various countries. This concept involves the crimes based on the hatred of a group of people, due to an ideological or natural disagreement, committed against the victim by the offender. The social destructive effects of such crimes have led to the actions to eradicate it, especially in European and American countries. However, this term is an alien term in Iranian legal literature. This paper, while presenting a report on this group of crimes outside and inside Iran, divides the factors into three categories of government, religious and ideological institutions, and society, to explain the impact of each on the commission of such crimes and considering the multicultural environment of Iran and placing at the perilous West Asia region. It suggests strategies that can prevent religious and ethnic differences from being transformed into hatred and violence.