VOICE UK urges policymakers in England , Wales and Northern Ireland to:
Attack the prejudice that feeds disability hate crime
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There must be a national public information campaign to (a) challenge prejudices about disabilities and (b) to inform the public about disability hate crime.
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Police forces need to publicly state when a crime is being investigated as a disability hate crime.
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Crown Prosecution Service prosecutors must remind judges to clearly state when s.146 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 has been applied in a sentencing decision.
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Each time the Crown Prosecution Service secures a conviction for a disability hate crime it should publicise this outcome and, as far as possible, provide details of the offence(s).
Train professionals and respond robustly to each incident
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Police forces must provide training for frontline police officers on disability hate crime.
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Police forces must provide training for frontline police officers on assisting vulnerable and intimidated witnesses. This must include information on identifying them, treating them with dignity, meeting their support needs and on the relevant provisions of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act.
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Social workers must be trained on how to identify disability hate crime and help victims.
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Every report of a disability hate crime must be taken seriously and be investigated with the aim of building strong prosecution cases.
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In applying the Code for Crown Prosecutors' public interest test, the Crown Prosecution Service must be especially mindful of the negative consequences for society of not prosecuting cases of disability hate crime.
Work with people with disabilities and meet the needs of victims
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Community safety partnerships need to work with NGOs and people with disabilities on local approaches to tackling disability hate crime.
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As part of this, community safety partnerships should provide education to people with learning disabilities on (a) what a disability hate crime is and (b) how to report such crimes.
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Community safety partnerships must also establish effective third party reporting mechanisms.
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Primary care providers and social services departments need to provide appropriate therapeutic support for victims of disability hate crimes.
Provide more funding, more resources and more accountability
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Police Authorities to ensure comprehensive, comparable figures on disability hate crimes are collected and published annually.
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Community safety partnerships must assess their performance in responding to and monitoring disability hate crime as part of their equality impact schemes.
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Central government to provide funding and resources to support all of these vital steps.
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Evidence to the Joint Committee on Human Rights VOICE UK has given evidence on disability hate crime to the Joint Committee on Human
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Rights. Our original evidence prepared for the Joint Committee can be read in PDF format. You may also read additional evidence about disability hate crime with further clarification about this evidence.
We campaign along with two other learning disability charities, Ann Craft Trust and Respond. This joint approach is more effective than working alone as we can share information and knowledge
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