 From the 1980s the UK government passed several acts that had provisions concerning sectarian violence.These included the Public Order Act 1986, which introduced offences relating to the incitement of racial hatred, and the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, which introduced offences of pursuing a racially aggravated course of conduct that amounts to harassment of a person.The 1998 Act also required courts to take into account where offences are racially motivated, when determining sentence.