The Law and Hate Crime
Racially aggravated offences for racist violence and harassment were introduced by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998; the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 expanded these offences to cover religiously aggravated offences.
Measures in the Criminal Justice Act 2003 include increases in sentence for racially and religiously aggravated offences, and offences aggravated by the sexual orientation or disability of the victim.
Disability is defined as any physical or mental impairment. Clause 145 of the Act obliges the court to treat as an aggravating factor when considering the sentence the fact that race or religion was a factor in the offence, clause 146 does the same for disability and sexual orientation.
Section 23 Criminal Justice Act 1988 provides that in certain circumstances it is possible for a statement made by a witness to be put to a court rather than for the witness to give oral testimony. One such circumstance is if a witness is prevented from testifying either physically or through fear.
True Vision - Hate Crime website
‘TRUE VISION’ is a police funded web site designed to provide information about Hate Crime. As well as the police, local councils, community safety partnerships and support groups are involved. It was launched in May 2004 and is aimed at combating hate crime by raising awareness of the problem and encouraging victims to come forward and report incidents. It aims to improve the service the police provide to minority communities. Victims and other people affected by hate crime (race, religious, homophobic and transphobic crime) can notify the authorities about incidents and seek advice.
Pocket-sized information packs have been produced which can be downloaded from the True Vision website in Related Links below. The pack contains a self-reporting form and information on bullying, personal safety, local contact groups and domestic violence. The website also allows people to download the self-reporting forms. Twenty-three police forces have signed up to True Vision including all the south west forces except Dorset.
The packs and web site contains a variety of information to support anyone who has been a victim or witness of hate crime, each police force has produced a different local sheet for their packs. To access website please see related links below.
Support Against Racist Incidents - SARI
SARI is a Bristol-based voluntary black-led organisation that offers a free personal support service to anyone suffering from racial harassment. It is non-political and non-profit making and seeks to promote awareness of racial harassment to bring about an improvement in responses to it. SARI works together with other voluntary sector and statutory agencies such as housing, police and solicitors, to combat and prevent racial harassment.
