The Equality and Human Rights Commission has called for a full-scale review of the UK’s hate crime laws and strategies as part of a new national drive to defeat the rise in race hate crime.
In a major report to the UN on racial discrimination, the Commission makes a series of recommendations to the UK Government to tackle hate crime and lead a national effort to defeat those who seek to legitimise and spread hate.
Since the EU referendum, police have reported a 57% increase in online hate crime reports in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
In London alone new figures from the Metropolitan Police Service show 599 incidents of race hate crime were reported to Scotland Yard between 24th June - the day the result was announced - and 2nd July 2016. Police Scotland has apparently not recorded a corresponding rise in hate crimes in Scotland, though it acknowledges that often these incidents of hate crime go unreported.
The report calls on the UK Government to:
- Carry out a full-scale review of the operation and effectiveness of the sentencing for hate crimes in England and Wales, including the ability to increase sentencing for crimes motivated by hate.
- Provide stronger evidence to prove their hate crime strategies are working.
- Work with criminal justice agencies to understand what drives perpetrators to commit hate crime and to use that evidence to develop new preventative measures.
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