Mencap released a report for Hate Crime Awareness Week (12-19 October) giving some shocking figures on the incidence of hate crime against people with learning difficulties. The charity is calling for the law to be reformed.
The number of disability hate incidents (not all necessarily crimes) is higher than the number of homophobic and religious-based hate incidents. The British Crime Survey estimated there were 65,000 disability hate incidents in England and Wales in 2010/11.
Mencap’s report Living in Fear (2000) found that almost 9 in 10 people with learning difficulties surveyed had experienced bullying or harassment in the previous year. Of these, 66 per cent were regular victims and 32 per cent were being bullied on a daily or weekly basis, 73 per cent experienced bullying or harassment in a public place, 47 per cent suffered verbal abuse and 23 per cent had been physically assaulted.
Despite laws against disability hate crime in force since 2003, it wasn’t until the tragic deaths of Francecca Hardwick, who had learning disabilities, and her mother Fiona Pilkington in 2007 that they were widely enforced. Their bodies were found in a Leicestershire lay-by in 2007. Ms Pilkington had poured a 10-litre can of petrol over the back seat of the car before setting it alight. The family had suffered years of abuse from a gang of up to 16 youths. An investigation uncovered numerous failings by the local authorities.
There are several ‘strands’ of hate crime: disability, race, religion, sexual orientation and gender identity. Although all are included in the Criminal Justice Act 2003, there are significant differences in the strength of the laws for each strand. The Law Commission is currently reviewing hate crime law and will make recommendations to the government on whether the law should be reformed so it’s the same for all strands of hate crime. Mencap has recommended to the Law Commission that all provisions be extended to disability hate crime. They believe that hatred towards disabled people is just as damaging to individuals, communities and wider society as hatred towards people of a different race or religion, and this should be reflected in the law.
The vast majority of people with learning and other disabilities who are victims of hate crime do not get justice. Despite the huge numbers of crimes that take place, only around 3 per cent are recorded by the police as hate crimes and only 1 per cent lead to convictions. In the past couple of years, the number of disability hate crimes recorded by the police has been improving but this has not led to an increase in convictions. We know part of the problem is that not many victims report disability hate crimes, or they may report a crime once but get a very negative response from the police and so never report again. Mencap’s Don’t stand by report found that people felt that police officers often ignored them or did not know how to communicate with them properly.
Even when people report hate crimes, and the police record them accurately, cases where the victim has learning difficulties rarely get to court after the CPS questioned the reliability and credibility of the victim. And even when the case gets to court and leads to a conviction, judges are not consistently using the sentence uplift so victims are still being denied full justice.
The Hate Crime (People with Learning Difficulties and Learning Disabilities) Bill 2013-14 is a Private Members Bill sponsored by Ian Mearns. It requires police forces to register hate crimes committed against people with learning disabilities. It was introduced to Parliament on 30 October 2013 under the Ten Minute Rule and is expected to have its second reading debate on 24 January 2014.
