• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • About DNS
  • Subscribe to DNS
  • Advertise with DNS
  • Support DNS
  • Contact DNS

Disability News Service

the country's only news agency specialising in disability issues

  • Home
  • Independent Living
    • Arts, Culture and Sport
    • Crime
    • Education
    • Employment
    • Housing
    • Transport
  • Activism & Campaigning
  • Benefits & Poverty
  • Politics
  • Human Rights
You are here: Home / News Archive / Still no justice on disability hate crime, say professionals

Still no justice on disability hate crime, say professionals

By guest on 2nd December 2009 Category: News Archive

Listen

The criminal justice system is still failing to take the issue of disability hate crime seriously enough, according to a poll of professionals.

Nearly 50 delegates from local authorities, the Crown Prosecution Service, police forces, central government and voluntary organisations attended the Overcoming a Crisis of Justice conference on disability hate crime.

During a voting session at the conference – organised by Westminster Briefing – nearly four-fifths of delegates said the criminal justice system failed to take disability hate crime as seriously as other hate crimes.

Nearly seven in ten said the court process was “unfriendly and inaccessible” to disabled people.

And 86 per cent said they believed that not enough was being done to ensure that disabled people were seen as targets of hostility, and not just “easy targets”.

But nearly half the delegates said that tackling disability hate crime was high on the agenda in their local area.

Katharine Quarmby, author of the Getting Away With Murder report on disability hate crime, who spoke at the conference, said there was a feeling of “real disappointment and frustration” that the criminal justice system was still failing to treat disabled people equally.

She said: “It was an audience of very highly-skilled professionals with a really good understanding of what’s happening on the ground.

“If they are so disappointed in the criminal justice system, it really shows that the system hasn’t changed.”

Quarmby said the conference also underlined the urgent need for research to discover what motivates offenders to target disabled people in hate crimes.

But she said she was encouraged that criminal justice agencies appeared to be much clearer that lower-level harassment of disabled people often develops into something much more serious, such as hate crime murders.

Stephen Brookes, coordinator of the National Disability Hate Crime Network, who chaired the conference, said he was encouraged that delegates had recognised the importance of taking such harassment seriously and “looking more systematically at this lower level of crime”.

15 December 2009

Share this post:

Share on X (Twitter)Share on FacebookShare on WhatsAppShare on Reddit
Pygmalion at the Old Vic. Access performances. Icons for audio description, captioned, BSL and relaxed performances.

Related

‘Muddled’ blue badge reforms ‘are to blame for renewal delays’
6th February 2015
UN debate will be reminder of true inclusive education
6th February 2015
IDS breaks pledge on PIP waiting-times, as tens of thousands still queue for months
30th January 2015

Primary Sidebar

Pygmalion at the Old Vic. Access performances. Icons for audio description, captioned, BSL and relaxed performances.Pygmalion at the Old Vic. Access performances. Icons for audio description, captioned, BSL and relaxed performances.

Access

Latest Stories

Network Rail admits: ‘We have no idea how many inaccessible bridges we’re building’

Anger as Labour omits ‘vital’ promise on disability rights from policy document

Labour has ‘caved in to vested interests’ on social care, leaked documents show

Fear over council policy that could force disabled people into care homes

Anger at ‘shameful’ failure to include DWP deaths inquiry in Labour policy document

One in three ‘Disability Confident’ employers have employed no disabled people

Austerity changes are reducing impact of accessible housing funds, 12 years on

Ministers ignore ESA claimants in suicide prevention strategy… again

Watchdog appears set to approve mass ticket office closures

Disabled politician sues Lib Dems over discrimination that left her suicidal

Advice and Information

Readspeaker

Footer

The International Standard Serial Number for Disability News Service is: ISSN 2398-8924

  • Accessibility Statement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Site map
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Copyright © 2023 Disability News Service

Site development by A Bright Clear Web