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Research Summary 38 Homophobic Hate Crime - 0
Research Summary 38 Homophobic Hate Crime - 0
Research Summary 38 Homophobic Hate Crime - 0
Acknowledgements
Stonewall would like to thank Chih Hoong Sin as well as Sara O’Loan,
Karen Jochelson and Susan Botcherby from the Equality and Human
Rights Commission for their useful comments and editorial support.
Homophobic hate crimes
and hate incidents
Introduction
www.equalityhumanrights.com
In order to avoid victimisation, some At the time of the survey, YouGov had
people try to avoid being identified as ‘gay’, information on the sexual orientation of only
which curtails their freedom and their right a proportion of their panel members, and 99
to be who they are. The criminal justice per cent known to be LGB were invited, via
system as a whole has failed to email or online, to participate in a survey.
systematically and consistently prevent or Participants were unaware of the subject of
respond to homophobic hate crimes. the survey when invited to participate.
Efforts to tackle homophobic hate crime Forty-three per cent of panel members
have been hampered by a lack of data and responded to the invitation and broadly
evidence on both the victims and reflected the demographics of YouGov’s LGB
perpetrators, with no clear picture about panel. Thirty-two per cent of respondents
how to improve reporting and with were female, and 68 per cent male. Forty-
continuing low levels of community nine per cent of respondents were gay men,
confidence. Stonewall were commissioned 19 per cent bisexual men, 14 per cent were
by the Equality and Human Rights lesbian and 18 per cent bisexual women.
Commission (the Commission) to write a There is no demographic profile of Britain’s
seminar summary paper, after presenting LGB population, therefore YouGov were
findings from their Home Office funded unable to weight the data accordingly.
research: Homophobic Hate Crime: The
British Gay Crime Survey 2008 at a This paper includes:
seminar in April 2009.
n definitions of homophobic hate crime
This paper draws primarily on Stonewall’s and homophobic hate incidents
report Homophobic Hate Crime: The n gaps, weaknesses and trends in data sources
British Gay Crime Survey 2008 and a
n the prevalence and impact of
range of other recent and relevant sources.
homophobic hate crime upon LGB
Homophobic Hate Crime 2008 reports the
women and men
findings of an online YouGov survey of over
1,700 LGB respondents in Britain regarding n the barriers faced by LGB women and
their experiences of homophobic hate men when reporting homophobic hate
crimes and incidents. It is the most crimes, and
comprehensive data source to date on n recommendations and ways forward.
homophobic hate crime and incidents.
Homophobic hate crimes
and hate incidents
Section 146 of the Criminal Justice Act If an offence is believed to have been
(England and Wales) 2003, that came into motivated by hostility or prejudice based
effect in 2005, provides that a court must on sexual orientation (actual or perceived)
treat hostility based on sexual orientation the judge is required to:
as an aggravating factor when considering
the seriousness of an offence. This is n treat this as an aggravating factor
determined by whether: n state in open court any extra elements of
the sentence that they are giving for the
n ‘at the time of committing the offence, or
aggravation.
immediately before or after doing so, the
offender demonstrated towards the The Offences Aggravated by Prejudice
victim of the offence hostility based on… (Scotland) bill, was passed in June 2009
the sexual orientation (or presumed and will bring Scotland into line with the
sexual orientation) of the victim’ rest of hate crime legislation in Britain.
or The bill includes homophobic and
transphobici hate crime.
www.equalityhumanrights.com
Homophobic hate crimes
and hate incidents
(ACPO) all police forces must record all incitement to serious acts of hatred,
incidents reported, or those that appear to including, for example, homophobic song
have been motivated by homophobia. lyrics that encourage the murder and
In practice, the recording of actual and torture of LGB people.
potential hate incidents is influenced by
the capacity, willingness and understanding A number of studies have been conducted
of individual police staff. Many homophobic into homophobic hate crimes and incidents
hate crimes are not reported as a hate (for example Morrison and Mackay, 2000;
crime by the victim, nor recorded as a hate Stonewall Cymru, 2003; Williams and
crime by the police. Robinson, 2004). The majority were
conducted on a local scale and focused on
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) areas with highly visible LGB communities.
record and publish data on homophobic The sample sizes of such studies are often
hate crime cases and prosecutions in too small or self-selecting to be reliable,
England and Wales. They published their making it difficult to draw firm conclusions.
first annual report in February 2009.
The CPS Hate Crime Report 2007–2008 Stonewall were funded by the Home Office
includes information on racist and religious to conduct a new study into homophobic
crime, homophobic and transphobic crime, hate crime in 2008.
disability hate crime and domestic violence,
bringing the strands together in one report The aims were to:
for the first time.
n quantify the proportion of LGB people
The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal who had experienced a homophobic hate
Service (COPFS) is responsible for the crime or incident during a set period
prosecution of crime in Scotland. As the n identify the extent of under-reporting of
law on homophobic hate crime was passed homophobic hate crimes and incidents
in June 2009, the COPFS has not recorded not reflected in police data on recorded
and published data on homophobic hate crime or CPS data on prosecutions
crime cases and prosecutions to date.
n identify the extent of misreporting by
victims and misrecording by police of
Existing official statistics on recorded and
homophobic hate crimes and incidents
prosecuted crimes fail to capture under-
reporting, but may also include or exclude a n provide an evidence base to support
significant number of misrecorded and action by the criminal justice system in
misreported homophobic hate incidents. tackling homophobic hate crimes, and
n set the parameters for Stonewall’s
The Criminal Justice and Immigration Act
ongoing engagement with the criminal
(2008) also extended the provisions on
justice system.
incitement to racial hatred to create the
new criminal offence, yet to be
commenced, of incitement to homophobic
hatred from May 2008. This covers
www.equalityhumanrights.com
Worry about crime gay venue, or who they were with, for
example, their partner. Half of lesbians
It’s important to examine worry about experiencing hate crimes and incidents said
crime and perceptions of safety, as this they occurred when they were with their
compromises the quality of people’s lives in partner (Homophobic Hate Crime, 2008).
a range of ways. LGB people appear to ‘In this context it might seem unremarkable
worry about being the victim of crime to a that LGB people have often tried to create
greater degree than other minority groups. relatively ‘safe spaces’ in large towns and
Around 40 per cent of LGB people say they cities or in specific locations, for example,
are worried about being the victim of some rural areas and seaside towns’
a crime (Homophobic Hate Crime, 2008). (Mitchell et al., 2009).
This compares to 23 per cent of ethnic
minority people and 13 per cent of people
on average who are worried about being the
victim of a crime (Crime in England and
Wales 2007/2008).ii Eleven per cent of
LGB people say being the victim of a crime
is their biggest worry (Homophobic Hate
Crime, 2008).
Homophobic hate crimes
and hate incidents
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Homophobic hate crimes
and hate incidents
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Homophobic hate crimes
and hate incidents
In 2007–08 the target was to reduce Support and advice for victims
unsuccessful outcomes for hate crime of hate crimes
which had been motivated by race, religion,
sexual orientation and disability to 20 per Increasing the reporting of homophobic
cent. Performance for racially and hate crimes will only be effective if the
religiously aggravated crimes exceeded this victims have a positive experience. Equally,
target in the final quarter at 19.7%, as did the success of the criminal justice system
performance for disability incidents at 16.9 in responding to hate crimes and incidents
per cent. Performance for homophobic should not only be judged by the number of
crime did not meet the target, reaching prosecutions, but by the impact of both the
22.6 per cent in the final quarter of 2006– incident and the encounter with the
07 and 2007–08. In 2007–08, 87 per cent criminal justice system on the victim’s
of defendants were male and 79 per cent quality of life.
white (Hate Crime 2007–2008).
Providing relevant support and advice is
There is evidence that LGB people are key, however two-thirds of victims who
concerned about how they might be treated reported homophobic hate incidents to the
in the court system. A third of LGB people police were not referred to, or informed
would expect to be discriminated against by about, support and advice services
a magistrate and a quarter would expect to available to them. In addition, nine in 10
be discriminated against by a judge if they victims did not actively seek advice and
were charged with committing an offence support after experiencing a hate crime or
(Serves You Right, 2008). There is some incident. The reasons for not seeking advice
evidence to suggest that this contributes to and support include lack of awareness that
the failure of cases. Over 8 per cent of it is available, or where to obtain it, and
homophobic hate crime cases fail because of fear of homophobia from support workers
victim non-attendance at court and over 2 (Homophobic Hate Crime, 2008).
per cent fail because of a victim retraction Currently, there is limited provision of
(Homophobic Hate Crime, 2008).
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support and advice services that are It also leads to confusion among
specific to victims of hate crime. Generic communities as to what hate crimes are.
support services do aim to provide useful Numerous respondents in Homophobic
support to all victims of crime, regardless Hate Crime believed that a homophobic
of the nature of the offence or sexual hate crime was an offence in its own right.
orientation of the victim. According to the
CPS, in 2007–08, of those victims and The Government initiated a cross-
witnesses referred to a support service or Government consultation on hate crime in
specialist agency, none were recorded as 2009, and at a strategic level there is
being referred to a specific ‘specialist growing opinion that hate crimes should be
agency’. The completeness and accuracy of addressed in terms of ‘cross-cutting issues’
this information remains under such as low confidence in the police and the
development. Thirty per cent were recorded poor satisfaction levels of victims. However,
as having been referred to either a victim there are distinct differences in the nature
or witness support agency, and 70 per cent and understanding of different types of hate
were subject to an ‘other referral’. crimes that extend beyond these cross-
cutting issues. There is inconsistency in the
focus and resources given to different types
Conclusions of hate crime, which would need to be
Homophobic hate crimes and incidents are rectified before it is suitable to focus on
a serious issue that the police and their cross-cutting issues. In addition to cross-
partners need to respond to. However, cutting issues, there are moves to prioritise
there remain a number of operational and strategic work around transgender, disabled,
strategic obstacles to successfully Gypsy and Traveller and refugee and asylum
responding to and preventing homophobic seeker people to improve efforts regarding
hate crime. To date, the work by the CJS in particular communities. The rationale for
tackling hate crimes and incidents, and these groups is they ‘appear to be
specifically homophobic hate crimes, is not disproportionately affected by hate crime
consistent across England, Wales and and that the hate crime affecting these
Scotland. There are continuing disparities communities has received less attention in
in the law. Racially aggravated crimes are the past’ (Cross-Government Action Plan on
an offence under the Crime and Disorder Hate Crime, Version 2, 2009). It is important
Act 1998 while homophobia is considered to tackle hate crime against all communities,
under the law as an aggravating factor including LGB communities, and it is
rather than an offence in its own right. essential that all forms are tackled and
Such disparity has an impact on the afforded equal focus and resources.
recording and response to different
incidents by police forces. The absence of robust national, regional or
local data on the size of the LGB population
means that it is more difficult to convince
agencies that homophobic hate crime is an
operational and local priority.
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Homophobic hate crimes
and hate incidents
To date, the absence of official baseline data Police forces and their partners have a
from the BCS and SCJS have been major central role in educating LBG people
barriers to establishing the prevalence of, regarding the intelligence value of reporting
worry about, and experiences of crime if all hate incidents. Establishing LGB liaison
you are LGB, though this should change officers in every British policeforce would be
now that the sexual orientation of a valuable contribution to this work.
respondents is collected.
3. Improve investigation and
The CPS captures the gender and ethnicity conviction rates. The police and CPS
of perpetrators of homophobic hate crimes, should increase the number of hate crimes
for those who are prosecuted and convicted. and incidents they investigate and
Better profiles and reporting of prosecute. They should also improve the
characteristics of perpetrators would be information provided to victims about
advantageous in aiding prevention and whether the case will be investigated and/
targeted tackling of homophobic hate crime. or prosecuted. The publicising of successful
cases would promote the action the police
and the CPS are taking on hate crimes.
Recommendations
The following recommendations derive 4. Improve recording mechanisms.
from the evidence: Data collection should be improved.
This will mean strategies to improve the
1. Increase reporting of homophobic numbers reporting, in order to gain a better
hate crimes. An assessment needs to be idea of homophobic hate crimes
made of the variety of initiatives currently experienced. Police forces must train all
in operation to increase reporting of all police to identify and record hate crimes
hate crimes. and the BCS should include questions
about homophobic hate crimes. Better data
All victims – not just LGB victims – should needs to be collected on the perpetrators of
be encouraged to report hate crimes to the homophobic hate crimes and we need to
police. Training also needs to be given to gain a better understanding of the causes.
individual police officers on how to identify Data collection methods should be
and record hate crimes and how to deal consistent across countries, the criminal
sensitively with victims. justice system and within individual
agencies to allow comparative and
chronological analysis.
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17
Homophobic hate crimes
and hate incidents
will not necessarily consider the Stonewall (2008) Serves You Right.
homophobic bullying they experienced London: Stonewall.
at school to be a homophobic hate incident
or crime. Stonewall (2009) The Teachers’ Report.
London: Stonewall.
References
Stonewall Cymru (2003) Counted Out.
Browne, K. and Lim, J. (2008) Count Me In Wales: Stonewall Cymru.
Too – Bi Report. Brighton: University of
Brighton and Spectrum. Williams, M. and Robinson, A.L. (2004)
‘Problems and Prospects with Policing the
Cross-Government Action Plan on Hate Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Community
Crime (2009), Version 2. in Wales’, Policing and Society, 14:3,
pp. 213-32.
Crown Prosecution Service (2008) Hate
Crime Report 2007–2008. London: Crown
Prosecution Service.
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Contacts
England Scotland Wales
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The Arndale Centre 58 Robertson Street 3 Callaghan Square
Manchester M4 3AQ Glasgow G2 8DU Cardiff CF10 5BT
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This summary highlights new insights into homophobic hate crime and hate
incidents. It draws upon a range of sources, in particular Stonewall’s latest
research Homophobic Hate Crime: The British Gay Crime Survey 2008.
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