As part of Hate Crime Awareness Week, the Government’s Hate Crime Action Plan has had a ‘refresh’ to address specific concerns across all five monitored strands of hate crime:
race;
religion;
sexual orientation;
transgender identity; and
disability.
The Home Office is extending the Places of Worship Scheme from three to four years. Some 45 places of worship have been awarded nearly £800,000 in the latest round of funding through the scheme: nine churches, 22 mosques, two Hindu temples and 12 Sikh gurdwaras. Since the scheme launched in 2016, 89 grants worth over £760,000 have been allocated to places of worship across England and Wales. It’s typically towards capital spending on security equipment.
Home Secretary Sajid Javid said: “Hate crime goes directly against the long-standing British values of unity, tolerance and mutual respect – and I am committed to stamping this sickening behaviour out. Our refreshed action plan sets out how we will tackle the root causes of prejudice and racism, support hate crime victims and ensure offenders face the full force of the law.”
The updated plan includes over £1.5m of new funding for programmes that work with schools and young people to challenge discriminatory beliefs, promote positive discussions and encourage reporting. This includes supporting Kick It Out to challenge attitudes and behaviour in grassroots football and continue its work with Show Racism the Red Card.
Communities Secretary James Brokenshire said: “It is completely unacceptable that anyone should live in fear of intimidation and violence because of their beliefs or the colour of their skin. We must challenge prejudice and intolerance, whenever and wherever it appears in our society. Alongside publishing our refreshed plan to tackle hate crime, I am pleased to announce further funding of over £1.5m for projects that challenge the attitudes that underpin racially and religiously motivated crime.”
The Law Commission is to review hate crime – to explore how to make law more effective and consider if there should be additional protected characteristics, such as misogyny and age. Government ministers are to host anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim roundtables.
And the Government has published an update to its Hate Crime Action Plan.
The Week was founded in 2009 to mark the tenth anniversary of nail bomb attacks in Brixton. For more on the Week, visit NHCAW.
For the latest hate crime statistics, visit the ONS website. However, such statistics based on police recorded crime data have been assessed against the Code of Practice for Official Statistics (now the Code of Practice for Statistics) and found not to meet the required standard for designation as National Statistics. The ONS’ hate crime bulletin includes figures from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW).
An upward trend in recent years of the number of hate crimes recorded by the police – having more than doubled since 2012/13 (from 42,255 to 94,098 offences – is thought by the ONS to be largely driven by more police recording, although there has been spikes in hate crime following certain events such as the European Union referendum and the terrorist attacks in 2017. The combined 2015/16 to 2017/18 CSEW estimates that there were around 184,000 incidents of hate crime a year.
In Scotland meanwhile, Scottish Government ministers will consult on how to tackle misogynistic behaviour, Cabinet Secretary for Justice Humza Yousaf said. A consultation focusing on updating and consolidating Scotland’s hate crime laws will include consideration as to what measures may be needed to better tackle gender-based violence, including misogyny.
Mr Yousaf said: “The Scottish Government is working with a range of partners – through education, legislation and enforcement – to tackle violence against women and girls, including challenging unacceptable attitudes and harmful behaviour. We must guard against a pervasive misogyny which, unchecked, impacts on the wider health, wellbeing and safety of our communities – breeding a culture where this type of harm is tolerated – sometimes even condoned – and as a result is allowed to continue.
“So there is a clear need for continued action to be taken to tackle gender-based prejudice and misogyny in Scotland, although there are different views on the specific actions needed. We will be consulting later this year on Lord Bracadale’s recommendations for necessary reform to Scotland’s hate crime legislation. We will keep an open mind on the best way to address behaviour motivated by misogyny, including the possibility of new criminal law measures.
“The consultation will be launched in November and will seek views on a number of options, including an aggravation based on gender hostility as proposed by Lord Bracadale. But we will also ask whether, separately, a specific offence targeting misogynistic behaviour could be an effective step in addressing this form of behaviour and the damage it does.”
