Fear of how they will be treated is leading to thousands of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people (LGB and T) not reporting hate crimes. As a result perpetrators are evading justice, according to a new report by researchers at the University of Leicester.
Evidence nationally suggests around 35,000 cases of hate crime committed against people because of their sexual orientation go unreported every year. The work is supported by Government and produced for the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
The report from the University of Leicester’s Centre for Hate Studies suggests that 88 per cent of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people had experienced some form of hate incident leaving them with emotional and physical scars. Based on in-depth interviews in Leicester and Leicestershire the report also states only 14 per cent of LGB victims reported their most recent experience of hate crime to the police.
Also, national evidence in the report shows that while victims of transphobia can be targeted up to 50 times in one year, only three in ten reports the incident.
Report author, Dr Stevie-Jade Hardy, a lecturer at the University of Leicester’s Centre for Hate Studies, said: “Hate crimes are a routine, and mostly unreported feature of many LGB and T people’s daily lives.
“Simply expecting victims to report without taking meaningful action to dismantle perceived and actual barriers is futile, particularly when the evidence shows that many have little confidence in the capacity of authorities to act empathetically or effectively.”
The publication of the report coincides with a new campaign to raise awareness of LGB and T hate crime by a partnership of 31 organisations, funded by the Commission. With the message of ‘Recognise it. Report it.’ the campaign will empower LGB and T people to stand up against hate crime through education and training as well as establishing local partnerships.
Led by the LGBT Consortium, this is the first time that groups from across England and Wales have come together to tackle hate crime, with a focus on rural communities where reporting is especially low.
Paul Roberts, Chief Executive of the LGBT Consortium, said: “LGBT communities are already working with the police to remove barriers to reporting, and offer practical and emotional support. However, too often, LGBT people don’t know they are experiencing hate crime or just shrug it off. Collectively, we are saying it is time to move on from this. Our message today is recognise hate crime when it happens, report it, and get support when you need it.”
National figures highlighted in the report include:
Only 4,267 incidents were recorded by police in 2012-13, despite the Crime Survey for England and Wales showing 39,000 homophobic hate incidents over the same period. That’s nine times higher than the reported figure
Eight in ten LGB people have been verbally abused or harassed and one in ten have been physically assaulted
One in eight LGB people had received unwanted sexual contact
The report lists a variety of reasons for under-reporting including the ‘normalisation’ of hate incidents, concern about wasting police time, fears about being outed and previous negative experiences with the police.
Equality and Human Rights Commissioner Evelyn Asante-Mensah, called for committed action: “Pride season is upon us and it seems an opportune moment to reflect on the great steps made towards equality, while highlighting the hidden scandal of underreporting of LGB and T hate crime. Just as the Commission is doing with disability hate crime, we need to bring this problem into the open and create a culture where victims are confident to come forward and society confronts all forms of abuse.”
