Does legislating against racial violence work?

Race and Class

Volumn 44, Issue 2, 2002, Pages 81-85

  Bourne, Jenny ^a  

^a NONE

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[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0037534257     PISSN: 03063968     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/0306396802044002977     Document Type: Note

References (7)

1. Lee Bridges, The Racial Harassment bill: a missed opportunity', Race & Class (Vol. 34, no.4, 1993).
2. See 'Why was racism not mentioned?', CARF (No. 66, 2002).
3. See 'Racial motivation: now you see it, now you don't', CARF (No. 61, 2001).
4. Paul Iganski (ed.), The Hate Debate: should hate by punished as a crime? (London, Institute for Jewish Policy Research/Profile Books, 2002).
5. The independent Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) Inspectorate has concluded that the CPS is reducing charges in more than one in Tour racist incidents. Racially aggravated crimes are regularly downgraded to remove the race element; in other cases prosecutors accept defendants' guilty pleas to the crime minus the racial aggravation. The Inspectorate considered charges had been reduced inappropriately in 28.1 per cent of cases studied and in 18.7 per cent the plea (for the substantive charge but not racial aggravation) should not have been accepted. The report said: 'Establishing the racist element in appropriate cases is particularly important. Its removal can have a significant impact on sentencing . . . Where possible, decisions to reduce charges should only be taken after consultation with the victim. Most regard the racist element as the key aspect of the case.' (Report on the Thematic Review of Casework Having a Minority Ethnic Dimension, HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate, April 2002)
6. See 'Racial motivation', op. cit.
7. See 'Challenging racial violence: using the law', CARF (No. 63, 2001).