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The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) defines hate crime as "a crime where the perpetrator's prejudice against any identifiable group of people is a factor in determining who is victimised".
According to such a broad and inclusive definition, a victim of hate crime does not have to be a member of a minority or someone who is generally considered to be 'vulnerable'. For example, the friends of a visible minority ethnic person, lesbian or refugee may be victimised because of their association.
The Stephen Lawrence Inquiry Report (recommendation 12) defines a racist incident as "any incident which is perceived to be racist by the victim or any other person".
The definition of a homophobic incident can be adopted by analogy with the definition of a racist incident: "any incident which is perceived to be homophobic by the victim or any other person (that is directed to impact on those perceived to be lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender)".
When a person who is a member of both BME and LGBT communities is the victim of hate crime, it is up to the victim or any other person to define whether it is a racist or homophobic incident or both.
Domestic violence can be considered a hate crime and some police forces have joint domestic violence and hate crime units.
Police forces in most parts of the country are now recording hate crimes and there has been progress:
In 1998 a new offence of racially aggravated assault was introduced.
Section 146 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 came into effect in April 2005, empowering courts to impose tougher sentences for offences motivated or aggravated by the victim's sexual orientation in England and Wales.
The Criminal Justice Act 2003 does not create an offence for homophobic assault as such. However, it ensures that where an assault involving or was motivated by hostility or prejudice based on disability or sexual orientation (actual or perceived) the judge is required to:
The Criminal Justice Act 2003 does not specify the amount by which sentences should be increased where disability or sexual orientation are aggravating factors. This will be specified in further secondary legislation.
In June 2006 Stonewall welcomed the sentences passed on the murderers of south London barman Jody Dobrowski. The 28 year sentences were increased to reflect the way in which the killing was aggravated by homophobia. It was the first time that an aggravated sentence had been passed in a murder or manslaughter case since Stonewall secured the introduction of 'hate crime' penalties for anti-gay violence.
Similar processes to recognise homophobic assault as 'hate crime' have taken place in Northern Ireland. The Scottish Executive has published a consultation paper on hate crime to consider what improvements, including legislation, could be made to deal with crimes based on hatred towards social groups. The deadline for consultation was 30 April 2004. Click here to view the consultation paper.
The incidence of homophobic hate crime
The bombing of the Admiral Duncan pub in Old Compton Street (April 1999), and more recently, the murder of David Morley on London's South Bank (October 2004), are frightening reminders of the ever-present reality of violent crime against lesbians, gay men and bisexuals.
Indeed, the statistics are alarming. Queer Bashing, Stonewall's 1995 study of violence against lesbians and gay men in Britain, found that one in three gay men and one in four lesbians had experienced at least one violent attack during 1990-1995. Because of fear of becoming the victim of homophobic violence, 65% of respondents always or sometimes avoided telling people they were gay, and 59% of respondents always or sometimes tried to avoid looking obviously gay.
The problem is even worse for young lesbians, gay men and bisexuals. For those aged under 18, 48% of respondents had experienced violence, 61% had been harassed and an astonishing 90% had experienced verbal abuse because of their sexuality.
Breaking the Chain of Hate, the National Advisory Group's 1999 national survey examining levels of homophobic crime and community confidence towards the police service, confirmed these statistics:
66% of 2,500 respondents stated that they had been a victim of a homophobic incident
only 18% of all homophobic incidents were reported
70% were fearful of reporting future homophobic incidents.
Reasons for not reporting included
A more recent study The Low Down, Black Lesbians, Gay Men and Bisexual People talk about their experiences and needs, by GALOP (2001), the London Gay and Lesbian Policing Group, found similarly high levels of violence and abuse against lesbian and gay black and minority ethnic groups:
68% experienced homophobic abuse and 81% experienced racist abuse. 10% experienced homophobic violence and 24% experienced racist violence.
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