The new policy documents cover different strands of hate crime: racist and religious; disability; and homophobic, biphobic and transphobic. Official figures show a 20% rise in all forms of hate crime reported to the police in the first quarter of this year. Saunders said “an increasing proportion of hate crime is now perpetrated” online and several factors are behind the new plans. “We commit to treating online hate crimes just as seriously as those experienced face to face,” she said. The CPS said that in 2015-16 the CPS completed 15,442 hate crime prosecutions, the highest figure on record, with a conviction rate of 83.2%.

Source: The Guardian August 20, 2017 22:52 UTC