Disability Hate Crime - no laws exist ......

[JollyPirate]

I am shocked that in 2010 we do not have laws making assault, harrassment and torment of disabled people a crime. I would have thought it was up there with racism but no it isn't. No laws exists according to the report I have just seen on BBC nnews. Time this was rectified in my opinion.

It is being tackled but not before time.

doesn't suprise me at all

I've always wondered what the need for hate crime legislation is though. Surely the crime in itself should be enough, why is it that much more important when race is the motivating factor rather than anyother number of random motivations.
However having said that if there is going to be hate crime legislation it should be brought in for all possible hate crimes as otherwise it does show some form of institutional discrimination against the group which is not protected.

well whne you are targetted because you are vunerable it does become important

But surely there's a lot of people who are targetted for a crime because they seem vulnerable to the criminal, either because of perceived physical weakness or an actual knowledge of the persons characterscope of 'hate crimes', but would not fall under the . I don't see the need for seperate legislation becuase a crime is motivated by race as opposed to another random motivation. Also who comes under the scope of these acts?Is it only minorities and at risk groups or is it available to any individual who is attacked because of something to do with their genetic make up that they have no control over and which motivates another individual to attack them?
Also how far does one have to go to prove that these attacks are motivated by the trait in question?

no idea.
all I know when the PC comes round to take our statements tonight I want something done.
we are in a different situation as we can't just move. iff dd didn't need disable access we could just swap. but we can't so that makes us more vunerable.

I accept that there are crimes motivated by the traits in question wothout reservation.What I was asking is why these crimes should be considered worse than other senselessly motivated crimes, especially when considering that motivation is not a requisite in proving someones guilt in common law (although if you can show one to the jury it will normally help your case).
And also how far will the hate crime laws go, will they just extend to minorities or the historically recognised at-risk-groups? or will they extend to all people who are attacked over any genetic trait (let's say something as innocuos as 'ginger' hair) or if a minority attacks an individual of the dominant group.Will it be region specific so that a ficticious area which is made up mostly of black people and asians would then need hate crime laws to protect white people?

mayorquimby, white people are already protected under existing racial hatred laws

I thought disability hate crimes were sort of covered in the criminal justice act already?

That's what I was asking as I'm not overly familiar with this area of UK law and am (as stated already) anti-hate crime legislation. Thanks for the info though that's interesting.

s.146 CJA 2003 requires courts to increase sentences for offences such as assault or criminal damage if aggravated by hostility to physical/mental impairment

it is definitely worse to assault someone who has more limited capacity to defend themselves than a more able counterpart - don't see how this detracts from the general condemnation of assaulting anyone else

and think, might be wrong, that race hate crimes inflict greater psychological harm than same crimes committed without motive of prejudice - and obviously there is the wider social impact of allowing people to stir up racial hatred to bear in mind

A law does exist to protect from disability hate crime as stated above - the issue is that prosecutions for disability hate crime are rubbish, often the cps/cjs don't recognise a crime as a hate crime, special measures aren't used to aid the victims of the crime, evidence is seen as unreliable if someone has ld ... the list goes on.

"that race hate crimes inflict greater psychological harm than same crimes committed without motive of prejudice"

Surely that's far too subjective to base any laws on. Surely there's an equal risk of those who are attacked randomly and unprovoked to view everyone as a potential attacker not just those of a specific race and become withdrawn and equally psychologically damaged.

"it is definitely worse to assault someone who has more limited capacity to defend themselves than a more able counterpart"

Yes but surely that can already be brought in under existing law or have specific laws for those who are vulnerable due to physical incapacity to defend themselves (this could include elderly,injured and children). If this is the justification for the hate crime law how does it apply to racially motivated attacks on those who can defend themselves?

Also how can one prove motivation? Intent is different because it goes towards the qualities of peoples actions and intent can be inferred in a way that motivation can not (i.e. normal actions are intended to bring about normal consequences unless there's mitigating evidence to prove otherwise.)

yes for race crimes am not sure about the psychological harm thing, I sort of remember something along those lines being part of justification for those laws but not totally sure

definition of disability under existing law includes any mental or physical impairment so must include infirmities related to age or injury (lots of disabilities are acquired after all, not all from birth) and children have their own laws

am sure there are wider justifications for laws relating to race crimes, the impact on society is definitely greater because it specifically targets a significant segment of it? motivation, not sure how that is established either - is it inferred from use of racially abusive language, membership of certain groups. anti-semitic criminal damage tends to speak for itself

there is also just the fact that some groups are more vulnerable to attack than others, difficulties in knowing how far to go with that shouldn't stop us from trying to increase measures that offer protection and redress at all?

am enjoying thinking about this but have made self late for work, would like legal exculpation on grounds of being lazy, disorganised and easily distracted

mayorquimby i do kind of see where you are comming from.
but disabled people are by thier very nature vunerable, if you have someone in a wheelchair, they can hardly run away, or someone who has epilepsy can hardly fight back if they have a seizure.
I think the problem is we don't protect the vunerable, you only have to look at the last few case that have been in the news, people driven to death by it.
we already protect people against racial hatred, and homophic attacks, so why not disabled people.

No i agree two-shoes, as I said earlier on if those groups are protected then it should naturally extend to disabled people as well,without a doubt. If I'm reading your posts right then this is a personal subject to you which it is not for me, so I was more arguing the objective legal need for such laws at all and their nature if implemented and hope you didn't take any offence from what I posted.

yes it is (just waited 2 hours for the police that didn't bother to turn up!! just a rather dismisive phone call)

Hello,
This is a really interesting discussion. I've been investigating disability hate crime for various newspapers and magazines for three years and wrote a report on it - called Getting Away with Murder - for the charity Scope, the magazine Disability Now and the United Kingdom's Disabled People's Council two years ago. It's great to see Mumsnet members discussing it - many disabled women experience disability hate crime (even more than disabled men, though they are targeted too), as do disabled children.
Briefly, to clarify, the law on disability hate crime is clear. It's what's called a sentencing provision, which means that if you assault a disabled person because they are disabled (ie you are hostile towards them because of their impairment and the law can prove this) then this will attract an increased sentence. This is the same for homophobic crimes. There are separate laws under which you can be charged for race and religious crimes. But all hate crimes are now recorded separately, so we know that disability hate crime prosecutions doubled last year. That's the good news - the bad news is that they are less likely to get a successful result (conviction rather than aquittal) and they are just 3% of all hate crime prosecutions. I believe, from my research, that many disability hate crimes are still not reported and many are not prosecuted. And, if they are, they are still less likely to succeed. However, the sitation is far better than two years ago, when police and prosecutors would often ask me what a disability hate crime was, or deny that the offence existed.
So that's a brief history. Many disabled women are targeted - Fiona Pilkington, her daughter Frankie Hardwick, and Christine Lakinski, to name but a few. If you want to read the report, you can find it at www.timetogetequal.org.uk, and feel free to ask me more questions. It's a really important issue. Ask the candidates standing in the general election what they will do about disability hate crime as well. It all helps!
Katharine Quarmby

Hate crime is recognised as having an increased effect on the community as well as the victim targetted.

If as a disabled person I am attacked, which I have been several times due to my perceived difference ( being shouted at that I should have been killed at birth and as I was not would be killed now indicated hostility towards disabled people), then yes of course I as the victim am seriously affected but also my family, carers, communities and organisations of disabled peoples as well.

This is why there is some hate crime law but re disability it can only be recognised in court as an agravating factor which means if this is used the criminal could get increased sentence. Often though this law is not used due to lack of recognition of disability hate crime.

Sadly as disabled people we always experience exclusion and discrimination around equality of justice.

We desperately need the same and equal law around hate crime as there is around race.

I hope I have explained, do come and see the facebook site re disability hate crime for records of attacks, reports and research as well as discussions. Many disabled people have been murdered, attacked, harrassed and bullied yet till recntly no one in the police or justice services would beleive us.

Re Vulnerability

This is like saying woman are raped because they are women its is not acceptable and places blame and cause on the vitim rather then focusing on the attacker and why disabled people are attacked.

Anyone can find themselves in a 'vulnerable situation' if someone wants to attack you you are as 'vulnerable' as a disabled person or anyone else.

Obviously there are those who will randomly attack anyone for money etc and think this may be easier of the vitim is elderly or disabled.

But when people target disabled people due to thinking they are fraudsters, a burden on the state, a nuisance, or someone to make fun of then we need this recognised as hate crime the same as it is when a person is targetted due to race, sexuality etc.

I have reserached this issue for two decades and so far in just March this year over 30 media reports of attacks on disabled people have been published, two were murders/manslaughter and one is being investigated now David Askew case.

These attackes have been not for money or mobile phones they have been for no obvious reason what so ever except hatred of/or hostility towards disabled people.

Wheeelchair users and mobility scooter users spat on in the street, scooters set alight outide people front door causing death fo disabled persons, violent attacks on wheelchair users, Deaf and blind people, harrassment and bullying of those with learning difficulties.

And these are not just done by young people they are done by adults too.

Women were once told not to wear short skirts and stay in at night to prevent rape, this people realised was not accptable as it punished the vitim and being a woman is an identity.

Being a disabled person is an identity and when we are attackled because of our identity then it is now recognised as hate crime for some.

It is not perceived vulnerability that is the cause of most of these attacks and murders its caused by society perceiving disabled people as less valuable, less human and less worthy of life.

When this message is perpetuated again and again by individuals, communities, faith groups, law, governement etc no wonder our lives are seen as less then others.

When you hear about the range of attacks, the brutality and repeat vitimisation, the needless hostility and the huge distress this causes then you will understand.

We need your understanding and support as one day it may be you or your child who experiences hate crime due to disability as we all gain impairments as we get older, accidents happen and injuries and disease can effect anyones life.

Would you accept the way disabled people treated if it was a member of your family targetted? would you really think it was due to thier perceived vulnerability and therefore accptable and nothing can be done about it as rape was once viewed?

This month a wheelcahir user was violently tipped out of his chair in a pub, another was attacked on way home nothing stolen, a Deaf man was attacked for no reason and beat up, another who was paralysed in bed was violently attacked in his bed by burglers ( they had no reason to attack him at all as he could not move), another blind person had her white cane and dark glassess stolen after being beat up in the street,I could go on and on.

Just look at the incidents list on the disability hate crime facebook site and the view that all these are due to our vulnerability will be challenged and the more challenging thought that actually some people do not like disabled people and will do nasty things to them because they think they will get away with it ( which often they do) will be faced.

Once we are believed then everyone will start to demand justice as what we experience every day is unacceptable in a so called advanced society.