- Conference
- 2024 National Disabled Members' Conference
- Date
- 5 July 2024
- Decision
- Carried as Amended
Conference is concerned that the current Hate Crime Laws are in disarray, and the recording of crimes that are ‘hate’ motivated is inconsistent. The manufactured culture wars have enabled malicious players to twist the rhetoric to make some groups ‘less deserving’ of protections than others.
This has manifested via the latest College of Policing (CoP) guidance on the recording of non-crime hate incidents (NCHIs). These are incidents that don’t reach the threshold of a crime but may be precursor indicators of deteriorating behaviour and increased victimisation. The distressing death of Fiona Pilkington and her disabled daughter contributed to the development of NCHI recording. Police failed to connect dozens of separate calls about local youths targeting the family. However, when Harry Miller challenged the recording of NCHIs in the courts after making transphobic comments, the CoP revised its guidance. Now the details of perpetrators will not be recorded on NCHIs. This renders the recording worse than useless at identifying deteriorating behaviour. A perpetrator’s pattern of behaviour will not be recognised until it escalates into abuse, assault, or worse.
Conference is further troubled that if a hate crime does reach the arbitrary threshold to be recorded, only perpetrators of crimes which are defined as hate crimes, involving religious or racial motivation, can be charged with aggravated assault. There is the option of uplift in sentencing where it can be demonstrated that perpetrators were motivated due to the disability, sexual orientation, or transgender identity of their victim, but this is not a given. So, while a crime may be recorded as a ‘hate crime’, it will only be prosecuted as such if evidence of hostility is submitted as part of the case file.
Conference is aware that in 2021, subsequent to a consultation which UNISON responded to, the Law Commission recommended the creation of parity between protected characteristics in relation to hate crime, but this has not been implemented by government.
Gov.uk reports Key results: In year ending March 2023, there were 145,214 hate crimes recorded by the police in England and Wales (excluding Devon and Cornwall). Although this is a 5% decrease on the height of 2021/22, it is attributed to improvements in crime recording by the police and better identification of what constitutes a hate crime. Conference questions whether this is better identification, or the dismissal of hate crimes that don’t ‘fit the mould’.
Since 2019 disability hate crime has increased 71%, transgender hate crime has increased 110%, and homophobic hate crime has increased 70%.
Conference believes that hate crimes involving the disabled community should also have the elevated charge of aggravated assault available to the police service to charge perpetrators of these crimes. This should also be extended to LGBT+ hate crime where it is also worth noting that the prescribed protected characteristics do not include hate crime against non-binary and gender variant people. Conference is also committed to ensuring that anyone engaging in behaviour that may be a precursor to a hate crime should be recorded as such.
Hate crimes are personal; they target vulnerable people and send the message ‘you are not welcome.’ They reinforce stereotypes, long-term prejudice and patterns of discrimination against certain groups of people and communities. Often, people are targeted due to multiple characteristics and the law does not always acknowledge the intersectionality of victims.
Conference believes that all hate crimes are equal. Disability and LGBT+ hate crimes should be treated equally with parity in the way perpetrators can be recorded and charged.
Conference instructs the National Disabled members committee to:
1) Work with the National LGBT+ Committee to raise this issue with the National Executive Council (NEC) and Labour Link;
2) Request that the NEC and Labour Link lobby around this unfair issue using the appropriate channels available to them;