Hate Crime The UK Approach Bradford 25th July 2011 Superintendent Paul Giannasi

What is a Hate Crime? Criminal Justice System Definition ‘Hate crimes and incidents are taken to mean any crime or incident where the perpetrator’s prejudice against an identifiable group of people is a factor in determining who is victimised’. Hate? Hostility not hate –”In the absence of a precise legal definition of hostility, let us consider dictionary definitions including 'unfriendliness', 'antagonism' and 'meanness” – Director of Public Prosecutions October 2008 Human RIghts Approach Adopted Stephen Lawrence Inquiry Definition Importance of ‘Perception’ Controversial, but still a key principle Importance of Non-Crime Incidents Even more controversial/ badly executed Strands of ‘Monitored’ Hate Crime Disability, Race, Religion, Sexual Orientation and Transgender houhuhuuhuh

3 Where we are - International Performance (2009) United Kingdom 52,102 USA 7,800 (2008) Italy Greece - 2 Russian Federation 460 (2008)

4 Where we are - National Crimes 2009 United Kingdom 52,102 Disability - 1,402 Religion - 2,083 Race - 43,426 Sexual Orientation - 4,805 Transgender Prosecutions - 14,186 Enhanced Sentencing - ?

True Vision Why is Hate Crime so important? Has a greater impact on the victim ‘An absent presence’ Affects wider community Has an impact on community cohesion Affects confidence in the police and others Prevents escalation in seriousness It is a government priority particularly under-reporting

True Vision - Legislative Tools Incitement to hatred Race Religion Sexual Orientation Racially and Religiously Motivated Offences Limited Creates Unintended Hierarchy Enhanced Sentencing Section 145 and 146 Criminal Justice Act 2003 Racially and Religiously Aggravated Offences Not optional Gee Walker Not reliable

True Vision How did we get here? Stephen Lawrence 1993 London Johnny Delaney 2003 Cheshire ‘He deserved it, he's only a fucking Gyppo’ Anthony Walker 2005 Merseyside Jody Dobrowski 2005 London Brent Martin 2007 Sunderland “I’m not going down for a Muppet.” Sophie Lancaster 2007 Lancashire

Current Challenges The ‘New Right’ New Tactics Blurring of boundaries Rise in Neo-Nazism Preventing Violent Extremism ‘New’ Crimes Forced Marriage Female Genital Mutilation Child Sexual Exploitation People Trafficking New Communities

True Vision The Vision Coalition Government commitment to increase reporting ‘ Hierarchy of Hate’ “I have heard arguments that say that by broadening our attention we dilute the effort to eradicate racism – I can not accept that argument. The same bigotry that fuels racism fuels other types of hate.” Challenge to give consistently high Level of service “We must seek to provide the same high degree of service to all hate crime victims. This must mean that all areas achieve the same high standard; I can assure you that I would never allow this to mean that our efforts to combat racism should be diluted in any way.” Need for ‘cohesive services’ Consistency of service Across government Criminal justice agencies Local partnerships Third sector?

True Vision - Where we are – Quality of Service 1993 Murder of Stephen Lawrence 2005 Murder of Anthony Walker “The handling of the Anthony Walker prosecution has indeed set a standard which we can and surely must aim to achieve in all similar cases” - Baroness Scotland, Nov Murder of Jody Dobrowski "This is unacceptable. We cannot accept this. No intelligent, healthy or reasonable society could." – Dobrowski family statement 2006 But…….. Significant under-reporting Many ‘Gaps’ in service Gypsy and Traveller Communities Asylum and Refugee communities Transgender Victims Disability Groups

8 EHRC Inquiry Duty on Agencies to eliminate harassment Response to a series of high profile Murders Some trends emerging Poor identification of hate crime Inquiry announced in December ACPO Declares Critical Incident Guidance in ACPO Manual Possible considerations Agency cooperation Ability to identify targeted or repeated crime and ASB Police and other agency ‘culture’ of de-selection Neighbourhood policing in ‘Sink’ estates

9 The Internet Internet Challenges Web 2.0 New offending behaviour Anonymity freedom from social norms International Disparity ‘Lifting the stone’ International co-operation or international apathy Geographical Jurisdiction Industry ignorance / apathy / inability? Opportunities as well as threats Gaps in Academic Understanding Link between exposure to hate material and physical offending Links between Exposure to hate material and a sense of belonging / fear of crime

Paul Giannasi Paul Giannasi True Vision -