Disability hate crime fuelled by “casual and institutional disablism”

Brent Martin, a young man with learning difficulties, was murdered a year ago by three men for a five pound bet. His murder was not prosecuted as a hate crime and two months ago his killers had their sentences reduced on appeal.

A new report called “Getting Away with Murder” launched by Scope, Disability Now magazine and the UK Disabled People’s Council (UKDPC) shows that his tragic case is far from unique. Disabled people throughout the UK are facing “a crisis of justice”. Widespread casual and institutional disablism in Britain creates the conditions where disability hate crime can flourish without being recognised or challenged.

Despite a complete lack of official government data on the prevalence of hate crime against disabled people, research by a number of charities shows that incidents of hate crime are widespread - disabled people are four times more likely to be violently assaulted than non-disabled people and almost twice as likely to be burgled.

Anne Novis, Company Secretary as well as member of UKDPC, who leads on disability hate crime issues for the organisation, is Co-Chair of the Metropolitan Police’s Disability Independent Advisory Group and Independent Advisor to the British Transport Police. She said:

“Disabled people, myself included, experience hate crime on a regular basis. People report being spat at, verbally threatened, intimidated and abused, aggressively harassed, repeatedly terrorised in their own home, physically assaulted, dragged out of their wheelchairs and having their cars or property vandalised. A worrying number of low-level incidents have developed into more violent and sinister crimes involving rape, torture, kidnap and murder. Yet, few of these incidents are recorded, monitored, investigated or prosecuted as disability hate crimes.”

Hate crimes against disabled people are driven by the belief that disabled people are inferior; in some cases less than human, of no value to society according to the report. But it shows that hate crimes against disabled people are rarely recognised by the police and criminal justice system, a fact which allows some perpetrators to “get away with murder”.

The report also highlights how the criminal justice system has so far failed to support disabled people to get justice for crimes committed against them.

Alice Maynard, Chair of Scope, said:

“Despite the horrific crimes documented in this report, disability hate crime remains largely invisible. Its existence is frequently denied and disabled people who report it are routinely ignored or are dismissed as unreliable witnesses. As a result those who commit disability hate crimes often go unpunished and public awareness of these incidents remains low.”

The report sets out a series of recommendations aimed at tackling disability hate crime. They include:

1. Tackle disablist attitudes and behaviours as soon as they start, especially at school

2. Eliminate casual and institutional disablism in wider society

3. Ensure disabled people have equal access to the criminal justice system

4. Empower disabled people and their organisations to co-produce effective responses to hate crime with statutory agencies.

5. Improve official data collection and research into the prevalence of disability hate crime

For more information please contact Marcus Churchill or Suzanne Stevenson in the Scope press office on 020 7619 7200 or email marcus.churchill@scope.org.uk or suzanne.stevenson@scope.org.uk

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