CPS publishes first homophobic crime data
10/08/2004
Initial figures released today by the Crown Prosecution Service show a conviction rate of almost 71% for hate crimes committed against members of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities (LGBT) in England and Wales.
Between April 2003 and March 2004, the CPS has identified a sample of 103 homophobic cases. Of these, 59 resulted in a guilty plea and a further 14 resulted in conviction after trial. Thus 73 cases - 71% of the total- resulted in a conviction.
The Director of Public Prosecutions, Ken Macdonald QC, said:
"Hate crime represents an assault upon diversity in society and we shall prosecute it with vigour. A modern prosecution service is not working effectively if LGBT people have much lower levels of confidence in its work than the heterosexual population. By accounting for our performance to the public and responding to the views of communities we serve, we help ourselves to better shape criminal justice policies. We have done it with racist and religiously aggravated offences. We are doing it with homophobic crime."
After extensive consultation, the CPS launched its public policy statement on homophobic crime in 2002. This spelt out the way in which it will deal with victims of crimes with a homophobic aspect. The CPS is now taking forward this work by:
- developing a training programme to help lawyers better understand the context in which homophobic crime occurs
- producing national guidance
- putting in place regular monitoring.
The new data has been gathered using the new COMPASS computerised case management system (CMS). It is now possible to 'flag' particular types of case, such as cases involving a fatality, and racist/religious incidents, and track them through to their eventual outcomes.
Case studies of homophobic prosecutions handled by the CPS in recent years:
Case study 1
Two men lured a 19-year-old to a deserted car park, stripped him naked and left him lying on the floor because he was gay. The pair admitted robbery. One was jailed for five-and-a-half years and the other for six-and-a-half. The judge remarked: "This is a very serious offence. It was done because of his sexuality. He was left scared and humiliated. It is hard to imagine anything more terrifying."
Case study 2
A group of four friends had been visiting a gay club in a major city. Three were male, one female and they were aged in their late 20s/early 30s. After leaving the club in the early hours of the morning they started to receive homophobic abuse from a group of ten men who perceived them to be gay. The group was chased and one member of the party was assaulted, resulting in severe bruising to his face and jaw. Two of the attackers were arrested at the scene and one was prosecuted, pleading guilty to Actual Bodily Harm and was ordered to pay 50 costs to the victim and 55 costs to the CPS with some credit given for an early guilty plea. All victims gave statements that clearly identified the attack as homophobic.
Case study 3
The victim (31) was at petrol station with his boyfriend. The defendant had previously known the victim although had not known he was gay at the time. He directed homophobic abuse towards the two men, culminating in the victim being punched and kicked in the face. On sentence, the magistrate confirmed the attack was homophobic, this had been taken into account and a four-month custodial sentence for common assault was imposed.
Case study 4
A youth defendant (14 at date of offence) was convicted after trial for using a public communications system to send an offensive message: making nuisance phone calls which contained references to the victim's sexuality. The victim, who gave evidence at the trial, is an openly gay man who lived with his partner and two teenage foster sons at the time of the offence. The defendant was sentenced to 12 months conditional discharge and ordered to pay 263 costs.
Notes to Editors
The figures are based on an emerging sample of 32 out of 42 CPS areas using a new IT system now being rolled out. Of the remaining 30 cases that did not result in a conviction, 22 were discontinued after application of the tests in the Code for Crown Prosecutors.
More detail on how the CPS prosecutes cases with a homophobic element link is available here on our website.
The Crown Prosecution Service is the Government Department responsible for prosecuting people in England and Wales who have been charged with a criminal offence. It works with but is independent from the police.
As the principal prosecuting authority in England and Wales, we are responsible for:
- Advising the police on cases for possible prosecution.
- Reviewing cases submitted by the police.
- Preparing cases for court.
- Presentation of cases at court.
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There is no statutory definition of a homophobic or transphobic incident. However, when prosecuting such cases, and to help us to apply our policy on dealing with cases with a homophobic element, the CPS adopts the following definition:
"Any incident which is perceived to be homophobic or transphobic by the victim or by any other person."
- This policy statement also recognises that there are people who have sex with a person of the same sex who do not see themselves as an LGBT person. This fact does not stop this policy applying to them, provided the incident in which they are involved is perceived by someone as homophobic or transphobic.
- Media enquiries to CPS Headquarters press office 020 7710 6088.
