Written evidence submitted by Leonard Cheshire Disability

About Leonard Cheshire Disability

1.       Leonard Cheshire Disability is the UK’s leading charity supporting disabled people. We work for a society in which every person is equally valued.

2.       We believe that disabled people should have the freedom to live their lives the way they choose, with the opportunity and support to live independently, contribute economically and participate fully in society.

3.       This response specifically looks at the issue of disability hate crime reflecting our expertise and experience. In Northern Ireland we work with disabled people to offer safety training and support to report hate crime through our ‘Be Safe, Stay Safe’ advocacy programme.[1]

Summary

4.       Leonard Cheshire Disability welcomes the opportunity to submit evidence to the Home Affairs Committee’s inquiry into hate crime and its violent consequences. We are committed to working with disabled people to prevent and reduce instances of discrimination and hate crime, including offering supportive community-based services.

5.       This evidence reflects our practical experience delivering ‘Be Safe, Stay Safe’ in Northern Ireland including the views of disabled people who have benefited from the programme. ‘Be Safe, Stay Safe’, provides support and safety training and educates disabled people on their rights. In addition, this submission includes data from a survey we conducted with individuals who have been victims of disability hate crime or know others who have.[2] Their views and experiences are detailed throughout this response.

6.       Last year it is estimated that 70,000 disabled people were the victim of disability hate crime.[3] Disability hate crime appears to be on the rise with a 25% increase of police recorded disability hate crime from 2013/14.[4] Over three quarters of people who responded to our survey said they felt that disability hate crime has increased over the past decade, with over half (55%) experiencing an increase over the past 12 months.[5]

7.       The impact of disability hate crime is devastating for disabled people and their families. As well as the immediate physical and emotional impact of the crime itself, victims of disability hate crime often continue to suffer lasting fear and anxiety in the long term, detrimentally affecting their physical and mental health and leaving them isolated and cut off from their family, friends and local communities.

8.       We believe that an effective way to stop hate crime is through improving local communities’ awareness of disability hate crime, specifically the police, local authorities and the NHS. Making it easier for disabled people to report disability hate crime and strengthening the rules for recording it is an essential part of this process. Ensuring hate crime is reported when it happens can prevent an incident happening to someone else.

9.       We recommend a similar model to the Be Safe, Stay Safe advocacy programme in Northern Ireland should be rolled out across the UK to improve the monitoring and reporting of disability hate crime.

Statistical trends

10.   Data from the Crime Survey for England and Wales which captures both reported and unreported crime estimates that there were 70,000 incidences of disability hate crime in England and Wales in 2015/16.[6] [7] However, there are only 2,508 instances of hate crimes where disability is recorded as the motivating factor officially recorded by the police.[8] This demonstrates a significant under-reporting of disability hate crime. Moreover, this is a 25% increase of police recorded disability hate crime from 2013/14.[9]

11.   Disability Hate Crime is significantly underreported because many disabled people don’t know who to talk to or how to report incidents, and in some cases are not even aware that they have been the victim of a hate crime, particularly where they have been the victim of it for a prolonged period of time (for example, harassment or bullying). Disability hate crimes comprise a wide range of experiences including:

• Physical attacks such as assault, damage to property, offensive graffiti and arson
• Threatening or behaviour including offensive letters, abusive or obscene telephone calls, groups hanging around to intimidate, and unfounded, malicious complaints.
• Verbal abuse, insults or harassment - taunting, offensive leaflets and posters, abusive gestures, dumping of rubbish outside homes or through letterboxes, and bullying at school or in the workplace.

12.   Leonard Cheshire Disability welcomes initiatives that provide additional monitoring and reporting of hate crime in the UK and increases the numbers of people who are able to report hate crime. For example, ‘True Vision’ is a website that allows the user to report a crime, focusing on hate crime.[12] The information provided in these forms then gets sent to the police and is officially recorded and followed up with a police officer.

13.   A more proactive and effective strategy is needed to address this issue. We set out our recommendations for how such a programme should look below.

‘Be Safe, Stay Safe’ advocacy service

14.   ‘Be Safe, Stay Safe’ is an advocacy service delivered by Leonard Cheshire Disability that aims to support victims and their carers to report disability hate crime in Northern Ireland. It is jointly funded through the Big Lottery Fund's Safe and Well Programme and the police service of Northern Ireland.

15.   In 2014/15 ‘Be Safe, Stay Safe’ provided support in 126 hate crimes and incidents. The programme works in partnership with the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) to ensure all those who wish to report a hate crime are supported to do so and those reports are handled with discretion and sensitivity.

16.   Advocates from ‘Be Safe Stay Safe’ work with individuals to help give them more confidence to approach the police and report disability hate crimes. Some quotes from those who have used the service highlight its positive benefits:

“The person who dealt with me was a big help in so many ways and never gave up.”

“I felt deep down inside someone was there for me and they wanted to listen, without them I don’t think anything would be done about this.”

“They [Be Safe Stay Safe] communicated with the Housing Executive, they were more or less the go between as I got worse I couldn’t do that anymore. They professionally communicated on my behalf.”

17.   Training officers from ‘Be Safe, Stay Safe’ provide training for those who handle calls for the police so they are able to support disabled people reporting disability hate crime with sensitivity.

18.   ‘Be Safe, Stay Safe’ has also worked extensively with the Public Prosecutions Service for Northern Ireland (PPSNI) to help them to understand the issues disabled people face when they have reported someone for a disability hate crime and are going through the prosecution system. The Advocacy service within ‘Be Safe, Stay Safe’ works with the victim to ensure the individual is fully aware of the process and given full support throughout.

19.   The programme also provides a six-week one-to-one personal safety programme for disabled people providing training on safety including using the internet, public transport, personal relationships and finance. This has been delivered to 340 disabled people in Northern Ireland over the past three years. In addition, the programme has delivered hate crime awareness sessions to over 4000 people since 2013.

The impact of the service

20.   Since the ‘Be Safe, Stay Safe’ advocacy programme was launched in 2012 the reporting of ‘Hate Incidents’ in Northern Ireland has increased by 86% and the reporting of ‘Hate disability related hate crimes has increased by 117% since 2013.

21.   Additionally, the programme has helped individuals working for PPSNI to support disabled people who wish to report hate crimes and recognising disability hate crimes when individuals report them (often disabled people themselves do not specifically state they are a hate crime). The programme has also worked collaboratively with the police service and the public prosecution service (PPS) to help make their systems and reporting processes more user-friendly and easier for a disabled person to work through. The police service has also changed the rules so that only officers who are at inspector levels can deal with disability hate crime. This did not used to be the case for disability-hate crimes, although it was the case with other hate crime offences.

22.   We recommend a similar model to the Be Safe, Stay Safe advocacy programme in Northern Ireland should be rolled out across the UK to improve the monitoring and reporting of disability hate crime.

The role of social media

23.   Social media can be used in an effective way to reach out to disabled people who have been a victim of a whole range of disability hate crimes, including online hate crimes. ‘Be Safe Stay Safe’ uses social media extensively to campaign on issues and identify case studies related to hate crime. For example, we launched the campaign ‘Support to Report’ to raise awareness of disability hate crime with allied health professionals, clinicians, social care workers and others in the disability sector as well as MPs and Assembly members in Northern Ireland.

24.   Social media can be used in an effective way to reach out to disabled people who have been a victim of a disability hate crimes, including online hate crimes. ‘Be Safe Stay Safe’ use social media extensively to campaign on issues and identify case studies related to hate crime. For example, we launched the campaign ‘Get Support to Report’ which targeted allied health professionals, clinicians, social care workers and others in the disability sector as well as MPs and Assembly members in Northern Ireland, raising awareness of disability hate crime.

25.   The Be Safe, Stay Safe Twitter is used as promotional and campaigning tool. We have a strong relationship with the BBC and several news channels’ Twitter pages that we use to send out stories and promote our work.

26.   The ‘Be Safe, Stay Safe’ Facebook page’s main aim is for disabled people, victims and potential victims of hate crime to have a space to talk and ask questions to the Be Safe, Stay Safe team. Facebook is an important tool to engage with victims, develop case studies and provide a safe and friendly place for disabled people.

Current legislation and enforcement

27.   The law, as it currently stands, does not recognise disability hate crime on a par with other hate crime. [13] We are supportive of the Law Commission’s proposals to extend the law relating to hate crime to provide greater protection for disabled people in 2013.[14]

28.   Although we do not believe that changing the law will rid society of hate crime, it is vital to deterring future hate crime and ensuring the issue is dealt with seriously. We believe that the law should offer equivalent quality of protection to everyone at risk of discrimination and hate crime.  For this reason, we believe this decision should be reviewed when the Crown Prosecution Service publishes its new policy statement on crimes against disabled people in the autumn.[15]

29.   Moreover, for these proposals to be fully effective there must be a real focus on tackling disability hate crime throughout the criminal justice system. It is vital that the police work in partnership with local communities, other statutory agencies and community and voluntary groups to ensure that victims of hate crime are adequately supported, and that improvements are made in identifying, recording and handling instances of hate crime. This is part of the work of ‘Be Safe Stay Safe’.

Conclusion

30.   In order to better support disabled people to record hate crime and feel safe and protected in their local community we recommend:

-          An advocacy programme similar to ‘Be Safe, Stay Safe’ supporting disabled people to report disability hate crime is rolled out throughout the UK to improve the monitoring and reporting of disability hate crime.

-          The law recognises disability hate crime on par with race and religion, in line with the Law Commission’s proposals. This should be reviewed when the Crown Prosecution Service publishes its new policy statement on crimes against disabled people in the autumn.

-          There must be a real focus on tackling disability hate crime throughout the criminal justice system, with the police working in partnership with local communities, other statutory agencies and community and voluntary groups to ensure that victims of hate crime are adequately supported.

For more information on any of the issues raised in this submission please contact Rosanna Singler. For all other enquiries please contact Matt Brennan, Public Affairs Officer.