The Law Commission is offering interested parties, which will include many parents and carers, the opportunity to take part in a nationwide consultation on hate crime and sentencing policy. The consultation period ends on 27 September 2013.
The Law Commission has been asked to consider the case for reforming the law to reflect in legislation the view of hate crime held by the criminal justice agencies. (A crime may be recorded as a hate crime if the victim believes it to have been motivated by hostility or prejudice towards disability, gender identity, race, religion and sexual orientation.)
Under the Crime and Disorder Act, some crimes such as assault or criminal damage are prosecuted as “aggravated” offences if they are motivated by racial or religious hatred – but this is not the case for disability, sexual orientation or gender identity.
In addition, the Public Order Act covers those who publish material that is intended to stir up hatred against people on the grounds of race, religion or sexual orientation – but not disability or gender identity.
Professor David Ormerod QC, Law Commissioner for England and Wales, formally launched the consultation:
I am pleased to inform you of the publication of the Law Commission’s Consultation Paper No 213, Hate Crime: the Case for Extending the Existing Offences. Copies of the paper and the appendices can be downloaded from our website at: http://lawcommission.justice.gov.uk/consultations/hate_crime.htm
This project is part of our Eleventh Programme of Law Reform. It is a reference from the Ministry of Justice and asks us to look into:
(a) extending the aggravated offences in the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 to include where hostility is demonstrated towards people on the grounds of disability, sexual orientation or gender identity;
(b) the case for extending the stirring up of hatred offences under the Public Order Act 1986 to include stirring up of hatred on the grounds of disability or gender identity.
As part of our work on these questions, we also examine the current sentencing regime applicable to cases where hostility is established, as this already applies in respect of all five groups. In this consultation, we address the following key questions:
* Do existing criminal offences provide adequate protection against the different types of wrongdoing occurring against members of the protected groups and the harms that they cause?
* Do the courts’ existing sentencing powers provide a sufficient response in all cases?
* Would extending the existing offences to cover additional protected groups create uncertainty or have other unintended consequences?
The consultation period ends on 27 September 2013 and I very much hope that you will respond. We would encourage consultees to respond using the form at the following link: http://lawcommission.justice.gov.uk/consultations/hate_crime.htm
Responses can be submitted:
* by email to hate.crime@lawcommission.gsi.gov.uk
* by post to Catherine Heard, Law Commission, Steel House, 11 Tothill Street, London, SW1H 9LJ.
We plan to produce a report by spring 2014.
The full set of documents relating to the consultation comprises many pages and would require a long time to read in full. But for most lay persons, the only reading required should be of the Summary (21 pages). The sections within the Summary correspond to the questions within the Response Form(15 pages). Rescare urges anyone with opinions on this issue, especially those based on personal experience, to submit a response before the Sept 27th deadline.
Summary: http://www.ldhealthnetwork.org.uk/docs/hcs.pdf
Response Form http://www.ldhealthnetwork.org.uk/docs/rf.pdf
For information, the consultation suggests that ‘disability’, in any proposed legislative changes, be defined as any ‘phyical or mental impairment’.