- Conference
- 2023 National LGBT+ Conference
- Date
- 18 July 2023
- Decision
- Carried
Conference recognises the differences in charging and sentencing Offenders against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender plus (LGBT+) Victims, than Offenders against some of the other marginalised groups in current Law.
Hate crimes can only be prosecuted as such if evidence of hostility is submitted as part of the case file. Hate crimes are personal; they target vulnerable people and sends the message ‘You are not welcome.’
Currently there are five categories that are classed as hate crimes, but someone can be a victim of more than one type of hate crime:-
• Race. or Ethnicity
• Religion, or Beliefs
• Sexual Orientation
• Disability
• Transgender identity
Criminal offences against Race or Religion can be charged as ‘aggravated assault’ have fixed aggravating/hate factor on penalty/sentencing and cannot be adjusted at all.
Criminal offences against the LGBT+ Community have a variable aggravating/hate factor on penalty/sentencing and can be adjusted subjectively.
These variable weights are calculated on:
• at the time of committing the offence, or immediately before or after doing so, the offender demonstrated hostility towards the victim based upon the sexual orientation (or presumed sexual orientation) of the victim or based upon the victim being (or being presumed to be) transgender; or
• the offence was motivated (wholly or partly) by hostility towards persons who are of a particular sexual orientation or who are transgender.
While both Acts legislate additional penalty/sentencing for hate-directed crime, we do note the disparity and how LGBT+ Victims may not receive the same judicial service as others.
Some Offenders against LGBT+ Victims could be released sooner than others, possibly before they’ve been properly rehabilitated – or it could encourage re-offending against LGBT+ People if Offenders think that sentencing/penalty isn’t as harsh as other crimes.
While the intention to provide equality for marginalised groups in Justice can be seen, this cannot be happening while some groups are still treated differently and given a different level of Justice.
Key figures
In the year ending March 2022, there was an increase of 26% (155,841 crimes) in England and Wales from the previous year (124,104 offences).
In the year ending March 2022, There were 109,843 race hate crimes:
• 51% based upon Race, or Ethnicity (56,346) up 19%
• 8% based upon Religion, or Beliefs (8,730)
• 24% based upon Sexual Orientation (26,152) up 41%
• 13% based upon Disability (14,242) up 43%
• 3% based upon Transgender Identity (4,355) up 56%.
Conference believes that all hate crimes should be treated equally with parity in the way perpetrators can be charged.
To remedy this disparity, and have LGBT+ victims given the same opportunity for similar outcomes as others, Conference asks that
1)the National LGBT+ committee highlights the inconsistencies in hate crime charging and;
2)the National LGBT+ committee liaise with the National Executive Council and other relevant bodies such as Labour Link to lobby for changes in the law through the appropriate channels open to them.