West Yorkshire CPS Scoops Justice Award for Hate Crime Work

05/11/2007

A Crown Prosecution Service team from West Yorkshire today won a National Justice Award for pioneering work in analysing its hate crime cases.

West Yorkshire's Panel is the first of its kind and was set up to scrutinise cases with a racial, religious, homophobic or transphobic element. Its work has been recognised by a high ranking judging panel including the Home Secretary, the Lord Chancellor and the Attorney General.

At today's awards ceremony in the City of London, presented by BBC Crimewatch's Fiona Bruce, the West Yorkshire Hate Crime Scrutiny Panel picked up the team award for outstanding contribution to diversity.

The Panel is made up of independent members from the five main hate crime partnerships in West Yorkshire. These are Stop Hate UK, Bradford Hate Crime Alliance, Wakefield Hate Incident Group, Calderdale Hate Crime Partnership and Kirklees Safer Communities. It meets four times a year when members study a random sample of cases dealt with by CPS West Yorkshire over the previous three months. It assesses these cases for strengths, weaknesses and any trends in decision making or case management. Learning points are then fed back to the CPS West Yorkshire, the Police and Victim Support, to ensure lessons are learned and procedures altered, always with the views of the community in mind.

This process provides a valuable tool in increasing confidence and accountability in the way cases are handled. The success of the panel can be seen in a marked increase in the prosecution of race hate crimes in the area, and a decrease in the attrition (failure) rate.

Neil Franklin, CCP for West Yorkshire said:

"We're delighted and extremely proud. This project is now being taken forward by CPS nationally. We've found a way of engaging with the community that really works and it leads us to do a better job."

The Attorney General, Baroness Scotland said:

"The quality of the work of all the finalists was tremendous.  The Justice Awards exemplifies the dedication of staff and volunteers across the Criminal Justice System to making communities better."

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS:

1. Media enquiries to Cheryl Ford, CPS West Yorkshire: 0113 2902839.
2. The Justice Awards is a national scheme to recognise the diverse work done by those working within the Criminal Justice System (CJS). Further information anad list of finalists and winners can be found at www.cjsonline.gov.uk/justiceawards
3. CJS practioners across England and Wales nominated teams and individuals who made outstanding contributions to delivering justice. The winners were then selected by senior ministers and officials.
4. The Justice Awards is run by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform which reports trilaterally to the Home Secretary, the Lord Chancellor and the Attorney General.  The judging panel includes the aforementioned as well as other high level practitioners across the Criminal Justice System.
5. The Justice Awards ceremony was held on Monday 5 November 2007 at the Merchant Taylors Hall in Threadneedle Street, City of London.