HATE CRIME AND THE LEGAL PROCESS – FINAL REPORT Table of Contents Tables and graphs ............................................................................................................... 4 Abbreviations list .................................................................................................................. 5 Acknowledgements .............................................................................................................. 6 Authors ................................................................................................................................. 6 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................ 7 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................. 27 2. RESEARCH DESIGN ........................................................................... 30 2.1 Documentary and secondary sources ...................................................................... 31 2.2 Case law analysis ..................................................................................................... 32 2.3 Qualitative interviews ............................................................................................... 32 2.4 Coding and analysis ................................................................................................. 33 2.5 Ethical considerations .............................................................................................. 33 PART A: LAW, POLICY AND STATISTICS: UNDERSTANDING THE “LIFE CYCLE” OF A HATE CRIME ........................................................................ 34 3. THE LEGISLATIVE FRAMEWORK FOR HATE CRIME IN ENGLAND AND WALES ...................................................................................................... 36 3.1 The structure of the current hate crime legislation ................................................... 37 3.1.1 Aggravated criminal offences ............................................................................ 37 3.1.2 Penalty enhancement sentencing provisions .................................................... 39 3.1.3 Hate speech offences ........................................................................................ 40 3.1.4 Differences in victim categories and protection under hate crime legislation .... 42 4. HATE CRIME POLICY DOCUMENTS .................................................... 43 4.1 The Police ................................................................................................................ 43 4.2 The Crown Prosecution Service guidance ............................................................... 44 4.3 The Sentencing Council Guidelines ......................................................................... 46 4.4 The Cross-government Action Plan ......................................................................... 48 4.5 Code of Practice for Victims of Crime ...................................................................... 49 5. HATE CRIME STATISTICS .................................................................. 52 5.1 Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) ........................................................ 52 5.2 Police data ................................................................................................................ 54 5.3 CPS and sentencing data ......................................................................................... 56 5.3.1 Pre-charge decisions and prosecution outcomes .............................................. 58 5.3.2 Sentencing outcomes ........................................................................................ 62 5.4 Conclusions .............................................................................................................. 64 1 HATE CRIME AND THE LEGAL PROCESS – FINAL REPORT 5.5 The lifecycle of a hate crime ..................................................................................... 65 PART B: ANALYSIS AND RESEARCH FINDINGS ......................................... 72 6. PRACTICAL ISSUES IN IMPLEMENTING HATE CRIME LEGISLATION .. 75 6.1 Preparing cases for prosecution: Collating evidence to prove hostility ........................ 75 Recommendation ............................................................................................................ 80 6.2 Gathering evidence: Failure to identify and investigate hostility early enough ............. 81 6.3 Gathering evidence: The importance of good relationships between police and the CPS ........................................................................................................................................... 84 6.4 Conclusions .................................................................................................................. 87 Recommendation ............................................................................................................ 87 7. CHARGING DECISIONS AND THE TRIAL PROCESS ............................ 88 7.1 Crown Court: Alternative charges and verdicts ........................................................ 89 Recommendation ............................................................................................................ 92 7.1.1 Overloading indictments .................................................................................... 92 Recommendation ............................................................................................................ 93 7.2 Magistrates’ Court: Alternative charges and verdicts ............................................... 93 7.2.1 Double convictions ............................................................................................. 94 7.2.2 Charge bargaining ............................................................................................. 96 Recommendation ............................................................................................................ 99 7.2.3 Alternative verdicts ............................................................................................ 99 Recommendation .......................................................................................................... 100 7.3 Mode of trial ............................................................................................................ 101 7.4 Over-charging ......................................................................................................... 102 Recommendation .......................................................................................................... 105 7.5 Special measures for complainants and witnesses ................................................ 105 7.5.1 Special measures must be implemented appropriately ................................... 106 7.5.2 Attendance at court .......................................................................................... 109 7.6 Alternative responses to prosecution: Restorative justice for hate crime? ............. 110 Recommendation .......................................................................................................... 112 7.7 Conclusions ............................................................................................................ 113 8. INTERPRETING THE LAW IN COURT ................................................. 115 8.1 Proving hostility ...................................................................................................... 115 8.1.1 Motivation of hostility ....................................................................................... 116 8.1.2 “Demonstrating” hostility .................................................................................. 117 8.2 The reluctance of juries to accept demonstrations of hostility as a form of aggravation ...................................................................................................................... 122 8.3 Judicial resistance to accepting demonstrations of hostility as hate crime ............ 124 8.4 Proving hostility as racism – “God’s gift to defence” .............................................. 125 8.5 Is a demonstration of hostility really a “hate crime”? .............................................. 126 8.6 Conclusions ............................................................................................................ 130 Recommendation .......................................................................................................... 130 8.7 Minority versus majority hate crimes ...................................................................... 131 Recommendation .......................................................................................................... 133 2 HATE CRIME AND THE LEGAL PROCESS – FINAL REPORT 8.8 Reluctance to proceed against “same-race” hate crimes ....................................... 134 Recommendation .......................................................................................................... 136 9. SENTENCING .................................................................................... 137 9.1 The purpose of enhanced penalties ........................................................................... 137 9.1.1 Justifications for penalty enhancements .............................................................. 138 9.1.2 Looking beyond deterrent and retributive uplifts .................................................. 140 9.1.3 Focusing on community and rehabilitation