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Hate Crime

Hate crime is any criminal offence committed against a person or property that is motivated by hostility towards someone based on their disability, race, religion, gender identity or sexual orientation:

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Home » News Centre » Press Releases » CPS publish first full set of Homophobic Crime figures

CPS publish first full set of Homophobic Crime figures

27/07/2005

The Crown Prosecution Service today released its first full set of figures for hate crimes committed against members of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities (LGBT) in England and Wales.

Between April 2004 and March 2005, the CPS prosecuted 317 cases it identified as having a homophobic element. Of these, 190 resulted in a guilty plea and a further 34 resulted in conviction after trial. The conviction rate was 71 per cent. This is the first full set of figures for all 42 CPS Areas, compared to 2004's sample of 32 Areas. Principal offences were offences against the person, followed by public order offences.

The Director of Public Prosecutions, Ken Macdonald QC, said:

"While these figures sadly show that there remains prejudice in our society, I hope that they also show an increased confidence in the CPS so that victims come forward and report attacks, despite fears they may have. This is testimony to the efforts of our staff and police initiatives. We will not tolerate any kind of hate crime.

"The gap between outcomes for prosecuting hate crimes and non-hate crimes must continue to narrow. It is a concern that 25per cent of homophobic cases were discontinued because the victim refused to give evidence, retracted or failed to attend Court unexpectedly."

After extensive consultation, the CPS launched its public policy statement on homophobic crime in 2002. This spelt out the way in which it would deal with victims of crimes with a homophobic aspect.

In the last year the CPS has run five training courses on how to approach these types of hate crime and each CPS area now has a homophobic crime co-ordinator. Co-ordinators provide guidance to prosecutors and agents, advise on victim and witness care and make links with the local LGBT community. A course will now be run on an annual basis and the CPS will continue to engage with the LGBT community - as it does with many others - to develop policy and guidance.

  1. Previous figures: between April 2003 and March 2004, the CPS 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 per cent of the total- resulted in a conviction.
  2. 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:
    3. "Any incident which is perceived to be homophobic or transphobic by the victim or by any other person."
  3. Section 146 Criminal Justice Act 2003 came into effect from 4 April 2005 - so does not cover this set of figures. This section requires a court to treat as an aggravating feature for sentence, hostility based on sexual orientation (or presumed). Although this does not create new offences akin to Racially or Religiously Aggravated offences, it now provides a statutory backing for the way in which CPS policy had sought to ensure that the homophobic element of an offence was treated as an aggravating feature, and be reflected in the sentence. Prosecutors can now remind the court that they must treat it as an aggravating feature, rather than requesting that they do so.
  4. For more detail on how the CPS prosecutes cases with a homophobic element link to the policy statement on our website
  5. Media enquiries to CPS headquarters press office 020 7710 6088.