We launch hate report

Disability Now, Scope and the UK’s Disabled People’s Council have published their report on disability hate crime, Getting Away with Murder. Written by Disability Now’s news editor, Katharine Quarmby, the 50-page report looks at all aspects of disability hate crime.

It highlights the wide gap between official data on disability hate crime and the results of self-reporting surveys by a growing number of disability organisations; the disparity between sentencing for disability hate crimes and other forms of hate crime; and the language used to describe disabled people (“vulnerable”) and the crimes against them (“bullying”).

The report also looks at examples of best practice, often conducted by disabled people locally, to fight disability hate crime; and the progress made at national level to make the criminal justice system more responsive to disabled people.

The report has a long list of recommendations for the government, police, prosecutors and judges, as well as for the media, local authorities, housing officers and social care professionals.

The report has several key calls to action. It calls on the government to commission a review of all violent deaths of disabled people over an agreed time period to see if a disability hate crime offender profile can be constructed. It wants a society-wide discussion of disablism and why disabled people are often seen as less worthy. It calls for guidance to key practition­ers to help them spot early warning signs of a hate crime. Most importantly, it says a discussion is needed about how best to prevent hate crime.

The report will be formally discussed at a series of events in the autumn at which key disability rights activists will be speaking. The report was endorsed by the Crown Prosecution Service, the Trades Union Congress, the Home Office minister Vernon Coaker, the National Disabled Police Association and the Metropolitan Police’s lead on hate crime, Alfred Hitchcock.