Race hate crime prosecutions soar
Prosecutions for race hate crime increased by almost a third last year, new figures from the Crown Prosecution Service show (CPS).
A new report finds 4,660 people (29 per cent) were prosecuted for racially motivated crimes in 2004-05, up from 3,616 prosecutions in the previous year.
The CPS attributed the increase in part to better recording procedures and the placing of lawyers in police stations, to give officers advice and help bring cases to court.
“Racist and religious crime does not simply injure the victim or their property; it affects the whole family and erodes the standards of decency of the wider community. We are determined to prosecute robustly wherever and whenever we can,” said director of public prosecutions Ken Mcdonald.
“Last year many CPS areas moved to working with the police, giving on-the-spot legal advice and helping to construct trial-ready cases. This is reflected in that, compared to the last set of figures.”
Today’s statistics – which do not include the months following the London bombings on July 7th – show that prosecutions of cases motivated by religion fell from 49 to 34 last year, but that 23 of the recorded victims were Muslim.
“These are very troubling figures in that they not only indicate that the number of prosecutions has gone up but that more race-hate crime is being committed,” said Iqbal Sacranie, the head of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB).
He expressed his fears about the future of race relations in the UK, saying: “What is of added concern is that these figures are before July 7th. After the bomb attacks in London we saw a spate of racist incidents. What will the figures be next year?”
The conviction rate has fallen from 86 per cent to 84 per cent, while the number of charges dropped due to insufficient evidence accounts for 37 per cent of cases. Almost a third of cases fall apart due to witnesses refusing to give evidence or failing to turn up at court.
This meant that between 2004 and 2005, 1,128 people accused of race crimes had their charges dropped.
A spokesman for the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) said it is concerned with the problem of people refusing to give evidence.
“Until all victims and witnesses of these crimes have full confidence that the justice system will deal with them, we will never know the true extent the problem,” he said.
The CPS is hoping to further tackle the problem of witnesses not giving evidence through their nationwide no witness, no justice project, which would introduce 165 special witness care units to boost public confidence in the criminal justice system.
