Page 22 - Community Living Magazine 34-3

community safety
Hate crime – don’t be a bystander

Hate crime affects the
majority of people with a
learning disability in the UK.
Jennifer Carthy reports on
efforts to stamp it out

t is hard to believe that up to 73%
of people with a learning disability
Iand/or autism will have experienced
some form of hostility, prejudice or
abuse at some point in their life
(Dimensions, 2006).
In the worst cases, some will experience The government view is that if a crime is committed because of “hate”, the penalties are more severe
serious verbal abuse, malicious
communication, physical and/or sexual organisation working to challenge The centres are usually based in
assault, financial abuse or emotional disability hate crime. A registered charity, the community and are an accessible,
manipulation. These serious incidents are it has been involved in developing hate trusted source of support for victims or
types of criminal behaviour that are crime strategies and services, campaigns potential victims.
punishable by law and constitute a and awareness training with and for They provide a welcome alternative to
hate crime. disabled people, local authorities and the reporting hate crime to the police and are
Less serious negative behaviour towards criminal justice system for the past the first to provide support to victims.
a disabled person such as name calling, 15 years. They are effective, as the police train all
mocking and belittling is classed as a front-facing staff and volunteers to
non-crime hate incident and, sadly, identify and report hate crime.
is a common experience for adults Unscrupulous individuals As hate crime services manager, I see it
and children with a learning disability target people with a learning as crucial that all our staff and volunteers
and/or autism. are able to respond to victims of disability
Disability hate crime is one of the most disability and pretend to be a hate crime.
exploitative types of criminal activity and friend. Their intention is to We have accessible information and
remains one of the most under reported. support services and a wealth of
Since 2007, a common definition of exploit them for financial gain experience in peer support. The majority
hate crime has been agreed and is used of staff and all our volunteers are people
by the criminal justice agencies involved. with disabilities. It is powerful and
This is “any criminal offence which is Chief executive Melanie Close says: “We healing for disabled people to be
perceived, by the victim or any other are a rights-based organisation and the able to support each other through
person, to be motivated by hostility or social model of disability underpins traumatic experiences.
prejudice towards someone based on a everything we do. The project has dealt with more than
personal characteristic”, such as disability, “Our starting point is that disabled 500 disability hate crimes and incidents,
sexual orientation, transgender identity, people have the same rights to safety, which have varied in frequency and
race and ethnicity, religion or beliefs freedom and justice as anyone else in severity. These can range from name-
(Home Office, 2019). society. We strive to remove the physical calling to serious physical assault, and
The shared definition has been a useful and attitudinal barriers that hinder and from damaging personal property to
way of analysing a specific incident or negatively affect disabled people. serious financial exploitation.
crime and applying a hate crime “uplift”, “Disability hate crime has no place in a The incidents occur on a spectrum
which means that additional penalties or so-called civilised society and we will do of seriousness in the way they are dealt
longer sentences are meted out by courts everything possible to address it – with by the police. Regardless of this, the
to those who are convicted of the offence. perpetrators be warned.” impacts on the victims are devastating
This shows how seriously the criminal because they are being targeted for who
justice system is taking hate crime. Support to report they are – for a characteristic that they
The definition has been adopted by all The charity has had a dedicated disability cannot nor should not want to change.
sorts of organisations operating in the hate crime service since 2014 and became
public and voluntary sectors, and helps one of the first accredited third-party When ‘friends’ are foes
with the collaborative work carried out to reporting centres in Lancashire in 2016. Adults with a learning disability who are
tackle it. Third-party reporting centres are a living independently or with minimal
Disability Equality NW, based in lifeline for disabled people who may be support are particularly vulnerable to a Paulo Pestana
Lancashire, is a disabled people’s vulnerable to hostility and hate incidents. phenomenon known as “mate crime”.

22 Vol 34 No 3 | Spring 2021 Community Living www.cl-initiatives.co.uk