Race Hate Crime Forum Conference

Report: 13
Date: 7 September 2006
By: Chief Executive and Clerk

Summary

This report provides a summary of the Race Hate Crime Forum Conference of November 2005, held at City Hall. It will also provide an update of the work of the Forum in addressing the recommendations from the Conference.

A. Recommendations

That

1. Members note the success of the Race Hate Crime Forum (RHCF) Conference.
2. Members note the processes being put in place to address the recommendations originating from Conference.

B. Supporting information

1. The work of the RHCF reflects the conclusions presented by the European Union Monitoring Centre (EUMC) 2005, which states in its recent report on Policing Racist Crime and Violence that it is “essential that the police work closely in cooperation with all the other agencies who can contribute to the eradication of racism, especially other public authorities and ― most importantly ― community groups and Non Government Organisations” (Oakley 2005: 45).

2. In November 2005, the Home Office issued a National Community Safety Plan 2006 –2009, setting out the Government’s five key priorities for creating a safe and secure environment. Hate crime is a specific priority of the plan. Proposed measures for “protecting the public and building confidence” include:

• increase victims and witnesses satisfaction with the criminal justice system;
• legislate to bring in an offence of incitement to religious hatred;
• give victims and witnesses a statutory right to high standards of treatment from criminal justice agencies; and
• improve the confidence of people from black and minority ethnic backgrounds that they will be treated fairly by the criminal justice system.

3. Members will be aware of the significant aims of the RHCF, in line with the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry 1999, Macpherson recommendations, 15 -17.

4. The aims of the conference were therefore to:

• embed the role of the RHCF - and to signal that if this practice can work in London it will work elsewhere;
• keep interest high and make sure race hate crime remains at the top of the domestic as well as international agenda; and
• engage with decision makers in Local Authorities and Non-Government Organisations (NGO) to remain proactive and positive and prove to people that they can make a difference.

More specifically the conference objectives were to:

• launch the first Forum annual report;
• publicly announce the work of the Forum to London;
• create an opportunity for an international debate on race hate crime; and
• bring together organisations involved in supporting and delivering on the hate crime agenda.

5. This conference was aimed at practitioners and those involved in responding to race hate crime, advisors and policy makers.

6. Over 180 people attended and both the audience and the panels formed a diverse mix of people from various backgrounds and affiliations.

7. Notable speakers were: Hazel Blears MP, Home Office Minister for Policing, Security and Community Safety; Lee Jasper, Policy Director on Equalities and Policing to the Mayor of London, GLA; and Cindy Butts, MPA Deptuy Chair. The international perspective was delivered from: Professor Brian Levin of Stanford University, USA; John Gleason, Prosecutor for the US Department of State and Legal Advisor for the OSCE [1] Tolerance and Non-discrimination Program; and Paul Goldenberg, President, National Public Safety Strategy Group.

8. Hazel Blears noted, in terms of racially or religiously aggravated offences, there had been a 6% increase in the latest figures from the previous year 2004. She noted also that in “London there has been a reduction – indicating, perhaps, that preventative measures in the capital are having some effect.”

9. One of the highlights of the day was a powerful dramatisation from Kids Ahead Theatre Group, a local community Theatre Group based in the London borough of Haringey, of personal accounts of the impact of hate crime to members of the community.

10. A number of recommendations emerged from the day. These are fully recorded in the conference report and are specific to four main areas: statutory agencies, communities, the RHCF and funding bodies. Some of the key recommendations are:

For statutory agencies:

• for the Home Office to demonstrate its commitment to take race and faith hate crimes seriously
• to ensure better cooperation and partnership work by establishing effective strategies to improve community confidence in relation to race hate crime and to demonstrate that these are communicated to the community
• establish initiatives that provide practical solutions, including education programmes
• that the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) should review the practice of accepting lesser pleas in relation to race and faith hate crime.

For communities:

• to ensure that new and emerging communities are included in the process, since they are likely to be most vulnerable.

For the RHCF:

• to maintain its current focus on race and faith based hate crime but share learning into other hate crime areas and to explore issues in relation to health and housing
• to consider and recommend strategies to improve the effectiveness of 3rd party reporting sites.

For funding bodies:

• to offer greater support to minority lead organisations working with victims.

The RHCF in addressing the recommendations is:

• currently working with and advising the Home Office Racist Incident Group, to ensure race hate crime remains high on the agenda
• continuing to hear presentations from boroughs to assess partnership working arrangements in place to address race and faith hate crime
• beginning the process of reviewing the progress made by previous boroughs since their presentation to the RHCF
• working with CPS to review the notion of plea bargaining in relation to hate crimes. (At a meeting of the RHCF on 22nd August, our CPS representative indicated that this process has already begun following on from the CPS review of performance in 5 London borough areas conducted in 2005.)
• working towards ensuring greater community based organisation involvement in the process of scrutiny, beyond local Race Equality Councils and Victim Support, by improved information flow between agencies
• working towards the establishment of designated hate crime officers within Community Safety Units (CSU) across all boroughs to work in partnership with local authority Hate Crime Coordinators (HCCs). The Forum has already established a HCC group, which has met twice this year
• continuing to monitor the use of civil action taken in boroughs as part of its ongoing scrutiny
• about to engage with MPS and borough partnerships to review the effectiveness of 3rd part reporting sites.

11. All these factors indicate and verify there is still much work to be done in respect of improving services to victims of race and other hate crimes.

12. To disseminate its work, the Forum aims to establish closer working relationships with London’s Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships and MPA CDRP unit.

C. Race and equality impact

Due to staffing resources the RHCF is not currently able to address all the equality strands in relation to hate crime but will seek to increase representation from those groups/agencies with the appropriate experience and knowledge of hate crime across the equality strands.

D. Financial implications

The RHCF has been awarded further funding of £40,000.00 from GOL in support of its work for 2006/7. The MPA has again committed £30,000, in line with last year. The total running cost for the Forum last year 2005/06 was £86,000. The RHCF will explore alternative funding streams for the coming years.

E. Background papers

• Oakley, Robin (2005) Policing Racist Crime and Violence. A Comparative Analysis, Vienna: European Union Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia.
• Home Office, National Community Safety Plan 2006-2009 (November 2005)

F. Contact details

Report author: Bennett Obong, MPA

For more information contact:

MPA general: 020 7202 0202
Media enquiries: 020 7202 0217/18

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