A new report claims that the criminal justice system has not taken the action required to address its failings in dealing with disability hate crime.
Two years ago HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and HM Inspectorate of Probation concluded in a critical joint report that disability hate crime was “the hate crime that has been left behind” and called for attitudes to change.
Urged To Improve
The new report by three inspectorates states that the police, probation service and Crown Prosecution Service have failed to implement their recommendations despite being repeatedly urged to improve. It shows that much of the criminal justice system – despite some areas of good practice – is still failing disabled people when it comes to hate crime and that there is continuing lack of understanding of disability hate crime issues by the police.
“There is continuing lack of understanding of disability hate crime issues by the police”
Further Information
According to the report, police are only correctly identifying a small percentage of disability hate crimes in files passed to the CPS. Of the estimated 62,000 people who believed they had been a victim of disability hate crime, less than 2,000 were recorded as such. It goes on to note that in all but 5% of files where it was relevant, the CPS had not tried to get the necessary further information on the crime from the police.
Repetitive Targeting
The report also highlights the failure of the police to link crimes to previous incidents, and says that this failure is a serious gap as such repetitive targeting can show the hostility with which these crimes are carried out.
The CPS, College of Policing and National Police Chiefs’ Council said in a joint statement:
“We are committed to working together and alongside local organisations in order to press forward and ensure all members of our society are treated as equals.”
You can read the full report on the Justice Inspectorate’s website.
