Racist and religious-based hate crimes have reached record levels in England and Wales, with campaigners warning of a national emergency. Overall hate crimes rose by 7% in the year to March, with four in 10 involving violence. Race hate crimes increased by 9%, while victims targeted because of their religion rose by 13%.
Hate crimes directed at Muslims rose by 15%, and those aimed at Jews increased by 10%. Ilyas Nagdee, racial justice lead at Amnesty International UK, said: “The shocking rise in hate crimes show that racism, violence and fear are tragically becoming a day-to-day reality across the UK.
“Behind these statistics are stories of children who are afraid to go to school, families who are scared to leave home and communities divided. When there are over 10,000 racially or religiously aggravated offences record in a single month, and hate crimes are increasing in double digits year on year, we are in a genuine emergency.”
Record numbers of offences recorded
Home Office data showed 146,825 hate crimes were recorded by police in England and Wales, of which 107,926 were linked to race. A further 11,419 were motivated by religion, with 5,132 directed at Muslims and 3,162 at Jews.
Outside of London, religious and racial hatred incidents are at their highest levels since records began in March 2014, the Home Office said. Just 10% of hate crimes resulted in a charge or summons.
Jewish community hardest hit
In October last year, two British Jews, Adrian Daulby and Melvin Cravitz, were killed in a terror attack at Heaton Park Synagogue in Manchester. In the 12 months to March, there were 117 police-recorded religious hate crimes targeted at Jewish people per 10,000 population – the highest rate for any religious group. The next highest rate was for religious hate crimes targeted at Muslims, with 13 per 10,000 population.
Policing Minister Sarah Jones said: “These numbers offer a stark warning that hatred continues to blight our communities, both online and on the streets.
“This government will not tolerate people being targeted by threats and violence simply for being who they are. We fully support a robust response from police to any reports of hate crime.”
Concerns over unreported incidents
The figures showed 21,407 sexual orientation hate crimes recorded by police – down 1%. Disability hate crime cases fell by 5% and transgender hate dropped by 4%, but questions have been raised about the data.
Rose Simkins, chief executive of Stop Hate UK, said: “I think we are in bleak times. The positive we always take from it is that people are coming forward, which is good. But we believe there are many, many more incidents that are never reported and never recorded by the police.
“We're not surprised that obviously race and faith have increased with the current climate. I've been in a meeting this morning where people are reporting, that the term 'get out of my country' is being used more and more to people.
“And going back more than 20 years, that was something that was often said to people. And I know of a 17-year-old who tried to die by suicide as a result of just hearing those words. So they really resonate with people and cause considerable harm.
“I'm not surprised that those figures have gone up. I think there is a bigger problem than the figures reflect.”
Ms Simkins continued: “The other aspect that really concerns us is the decrease in disability and transgender hate crime figures, because our interactions with trans people do not reflect a reduction in incidents. They're basically living in fear and experiencing many, many incidents.”
