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An autistic man who brought a legal case against a police force for discrimination, after it twice detained him, has had his claim settled out of court. Daniel Smith had challenged the policies of Devon and Cornwall police because he believed […]
Disabled activists have spoken of their shock and alarm after 18 police and crime commissioners (PCCs) signed a letter calling for a change in the law on assisted suicide. The 18 politicians, who have all been elected to oversee how crime […]
Grave concerns have been raised about what appear to be “discriminatory” and “pernicious” actions by a police force that has admitted passing information about disabled protesters to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). Campaigners, including the human rights organisation Liberty, […]
The targeting by police of disabled people involved in peaceful anti-fracking protests is an “absolute outrage” and “a scandal”, but such tactics will soon be rolled out to other protests and other parts of the country, a leading activist has warned. […]
The Home Office has been unable to explain why the number of disability hate crime cases referred to prosecutors by the police plunged last year by nearly a quarter, and why successful prosecutions of such offences fell even more sharply. In […]
The work of police officers on more than half of their disability hate crime investigations has been found to be “unacceptable”, according to a new report by two watchdogs. The joint inspection by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue […]
Academics have called for a new hate crime act and other key legal reforms to address the “huge justice gap” that affects victims of disability hate crime, following a major two-year study. Researchers at the University of Sussex, led by Dr […]
Disabled campaigners have written to a government minister to warn him that “alarm bells are ringing” over the “massive discrepancies and inconsistencies” in the way the criminal justice system deals with disability hate crime prosecutions. The Disability Hate Crime Network says […]
Police are investigating allegations that an officer repeatedly punched a teenager with autism, after a film of the incident was posted on social media. The film appears to show two police officers shouting at a young man, before pushing him to […]
Human rights campaigners have criticised plans for an inquiry that will examine lessons from the deaths of people in mental distress in police custody, because they say the government already knows what action it needs to take. The call came from […]