Take action on hate crime

• If you experience or witness a disability hate crime, report it to the Police or a local third party reporting centre such as Stop Hate UK
• Write to your local social services department, local councillor and Chief Constable and ask them what they are doing to tackle disability hate crime.
• If you have experienced disability hate crime and are willing to share your story, please email campaigns@scope.org.uk

The Equality and Human Rights Commission recently launched an inquiry into the harassment of disabled people. They are now analysing the information they received and hoping to make recommendations in their final report, set to be released in early September 2011.

Campaign successes

Since the publication of the Getting Away with Murder report in 2008, awareness of disability hate crime has increased massively. There have been hundreds of news reports and features focused on the issue and a number of primetime TV documentaries on the BBC and Channel 4. Two years ago, many people did not believe that disabled people were harassed and attacked because they are disabled. Now they do.

The majority of the recommendations we made in the Getting Away with Murder report were addressed in the Cross-Government Hate Crime Action Plan published in 2009.

In March 2010 the Crown Prosecution Service pledged to issue guidance to Police Officers and Prosecutors in order to increase the number of successful prosecutions of disability hate crime. This is a positive development but we will be monitoring it closely to ensure it is fully implemented.

What next?

The Government has confirmed that it does not intend to continue delivering the previous Government's Hate Crime Action Plan. We will be working to ensure that what is put in place instead is comprehensive and builds on the progress made under the Hate Crime Action Plan.

We are lobbying Government to develop a new training programme for front-line Police officers to improve recognition and investigation of disability hate incidents.

We will be monitoring the impact of the CPS guidance on investigating and prosecuting disability hate crimes.

Want to know more?

Read our Getting Away with Murder report in full in pdf.

Read the summary of our Getting Away with Murder report in pdf

Stop Hate UK

Stop Hate UK is a charity who provide independent and confidential support to victims of hate crime. It offers a free hate crime reporting service to people seeking support in certain areas of the UK and offer educational sessions on request.