Disability hate crime presentation - 21 September
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Transcript of Disability hate crime presentation - 21 September
Disability Hate Crime
Faye Savage – Lived Experience Officer, ecdpFriday 21 September 2012
Disability Hate Crime
Disability Hate Crime • ecdp and lived experience• ecdp’s work on disability hate crime • Disability hate crime nationally and locally • What was going wrong? • EHRC report• Essex Police and disability hate crime• Hate crime in 2012• How are people with mental health difficulties
affected by hate crime?
Disability Hate Crime
ecdp
• Established in 1995
• 30 FTE staff
• £1.5m turnover
• 100% board are disabled people
• Nearly 2000 members and 4000 service users
• Volunteers
Disability Hate Crime
ecdp members• We estimate Essex’s total population of
disabled people to be potentially more than 348,600.
• ecdp’s membership in January 2010 was 1,636 people.
• 21.6% have a learning disability• 6.8% have a long-term health condition• 5.2% have a mental health condition• 61.2% have a physical or sensory impairment
Disability Hate Crime
Lived Experience Officer
• Faye Savage - Lived Experience Officer at ecdp since 2010.
• Ensuring lived experience is captured across the organisation.
• Working on the issues which affect disabled people.
Disability Hate Crime
What is lived experience?
• Lived experience is formed of the experiences disabled people have in their every day lives.
• Taking a lived experience approach means recognising these experiences and forming a collective voice.
Disability Hate Crime
ecdp and disability hate crime
• Disability hate crime is an issue which many our members were concerned about.
• Media attention had been focused on hate crime following some high profile cases.
Disability Hate Crime
ecdp and disability hate crime
• First hate crime report (2010) examined disability hate crime in a national context:
- Disability organisations recognised huge problem but generally there was a lack of understanding about the issues
- Hate crime falling through gaps in terms of responsibility.
Disability Hate Crime
The national picture• Disability Now launched a Hate Crime
dossier as part of the ‘No hiding place’ campaign.
• It listed over 50 serious crimes which were mostly not viewed as hate crime by the police.
Disability Hate Crime
The national picture
• Nacro: disabled people are 4 times more likely to have property stolen with the threat of violence or to be sexually assaulted.
• Scope: 47 times as many race hate crimes prosecuted and 5 times as many homophobic hate crimes prosecuted.
Disability Hate Crime
The national picture
• Mencap: 9 of 10 people with learning difficulties had been bullied in the last year. 2 of 3 were bullied on a regular basis.
• Mind: 71% of people with mental distress had been victimised in the last 2 years. 22% had been physically assaulted.
Disability Hate Crime
The local picture - 2010
• In 2008-9 a total of 4 disability hate crimes had been recorded in Essex.
• 100% had been prosecuted.
Disability Hate Crime
What was going wrong?• Disabled people and agencies involved in
supporting us/addressing hate crime did not know what hate crime was or how to support people.
• Police did not understand disability hate crime/take it seriously.
• Reporting/support inaccessible.• Other services were sporadic and inconsistent
(or non-existent).• Perception of disabled people as naturally
vulnerable. • Systems of support potentially abusive.
Disability Hate Crime
USER model
• The ecdp USER model demonstrates the four key areas that need addressing in order to address disability hate crime.
• Based on the national picture and recommendations made by national disability organisations.
Disability Hate Crime
USER model
Understanding
Signposting and Support
Education
Reporting
Recommendations focused on Essex, but could be extended or replicated.
Disability Hate Crime
USER model• Understanding – there needs to be a greater
understanding of disability hate crime • Signposting and Support – services which signpost
and support disabled people when they are victims of hate crime should be widely available and well coordinated
• Education – to ensure wider change for disabled people, we believe education work should be focused on three particular groups of stakeholders: disabled people themselves, professionals and wider society
• Reporting – we believe stronger processes for reporting will increase the number of investigated and prosecuted cases.
Disability Hate Crime
Tackling disability hate crime in Essex• Online survey and focus group
with disabled people in Essex.
– Demonstrated disability hate crime was a big issue locally.
– Issues identified nationally were also apparent in Essex.
Disability Hate Crime
Tackling disability hate crime in Essex• Roundtable with a large group of
professionals (police, local authority, education officials, Victim Support, Adult Safeguarding etc)
– Inconsistent procedures to recognise or address hate crime.
– Unaware of other support.
Disability Hate Crime
ecdp recommendations
• ecdp published a second disability hate crime report (2011).
• In order to implement USER, ecdp recommended the creation of a Disability Hate Crime Officer, within a user-led organisation.
Disability Hate Crime
EHRC: Hidden in Plain Sight
• EHRC published the findings of an inquiry into disability related harassment in September 2011.
• Observed ‘systemic institutional failure to protect disabled people and their families from harassment’.
Disability Hate Crime
EHRC: Hidden in Plain Sight • The report presented 10 specific cases of
disability hate crime.
• Examined the wider problems around disability hate crime, observing ‘the cases which reach the courts and media are just the tip of the iceberg, and represent the public face of a deeper social problem’
Disability Hate Crime
EHRC recommendations
1. Taking ownership.2. Definitive data.3. Better access to a responsive criminal justice
system.4. Motivations and circumstances of perpetrators. 5. Wider understanding of disabled people and
disability hate crime 6. Approaches to hate crime evaluated and
disseminated. 7. Frontline staff recognise and respond to hate
crime.
Disability Hate Crime
Essex Police addressing hate crime• Changed focus from reducing crime to
reducing repeat victimisation; allows hate crime stats to rise and represent the true extent of the problem.
• Appointment of specialist hate crime officers across county.
• Better monitoring of stats. • Training to understand issues.• Working with experts and cross-sector.
Disability Hate Crime
The local picture - 2012
• Rise in all hate crimes but particularly good results with disability hate crimes.
• Rise in disability hate crime is 118%.
Disability Hate Crime
Hate crime in 2012
• Media reporting a huge rise in disability hate crime.
• Given the statistics still do not represent the picture, we actually welcome the rise.
Disability Hate Crime
Hate crime in 2012
• Disabled people are experiencing a rise in hostility due to image of ‘scrounging’?
Disability Hate Crime
Hate crime in 2012
• The power of the Paralympics to change perceptions… will this have an impact? How can this be maintained?
Disability Hate Crime
• People with mental health difficulties experience particular problems around discrimination and stigma. This can lead to disability hate crime.
• Is this recognised or being addressed?
What about mental health?
Disability Hate Crime
Targeted violence and harassment against disabled people
What about mental health?