Disability hate crimes in Northern Ireland are rising, according to figures obtained by Leonard Cheshire and United Response.
The two charities found 102 disability hate crimes were reported in 2022/23, a 10% increase from 93 in the previous year.
Using figures obtained through Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), the latest figures showed 85 (83.3%) of the reports involved violence around one in five (19 or 18.6%) took place online.
In 2022/2023, 13.7% of disability hate in Northern Ireland resulted in a charge or summons to court. The UK figure for cases resulting in a charge or summons is a shockingly low 1.3%
The higher charge rate in Northern Ireland producing better outcomes for hate crime victims, could be a result of the Hate Crime Advocacy Service – a partnership involving Leonard Cheshire and several charities. The service works with victims of hate crime and hate incidents in Northern Ireland, receiving several referrals online.
Across the UK, the Leonard Cheshire and United Response research found that 11,434 disability hate crimes were reported between April 2022 and March 2023. The data showed roughly half of UK disability hate crime reports involved violence and over 1,300 took place online.
While total UK reports are down by 3.1% from the record numbers in 2021/22, the drop is small and the figures are still much higher than pre-pandemic levels. Because not all hate crimes are reported, their prevalence is severely underrepresented.
Despite the long-lasting impact of being targeted by a hate crime, the UK government announced it will not publish a new Hate Crime Strategy that was promised in 2021.
The two charities are calling on the UK government to reverse its decision to merge an anti-hate crime strategy into a wider plan to tackle general crime. The UK government must instead focus on developing and publishing a bespoke hate crime strategy, in close consultation with stakeholders and their families.
Leonard Cheshire and United Response commented on the findings:
“We need to narrow the justice gap between the number of disability hate crimes recorded and the number of offences resulting in a conviction. There are real people behind these numbers and once a person has been a target of hate, they can be utterly changed.
“We are asking the UK government to rethink the plan not to publish a hate crime strategy. If they want to set targets for police responses to crime then disability hate crime should be a key focus, not brushed aside.
“Our research shows people want to help in a safe way. We need everyone to be allies in the fight against disability hate crime.”