Easy Read

Final report 2017

Stopping hate crime against disabled people

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We are called the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

We work to make sure that everyone is treated fairly and gets their human rights.

Human rights are rights that everyone has. Like the right to work, be safe and have a family.

This report is about:

disabled people being hurt or treated very badly by other people

what is being done about it.

Who we are

What is this report about?

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Too many disabled people are hurt or treated badly by other people. In this report we call it hate crime. Hate crime is crime that happens to someone because of who they are. For example, someone may hurt someone else because they are disabled or from a different religion. Hate crime that happens to disabled people is called disability hate crime. By law some organisations have to work to stop disabled people being treated badly like this. For example, organisations like:

the Government

local councils

the police

schools

some organisations that run transport, like buses and trains.

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This report looks at what these organisations have done since 2013 to keep disabled people safe. The report looks at work done in England, Scotland and Wales. We have already done lots of work on this. From 2009 to 2011 we looked into hate crime against disabled people. In 2011 we said what organisations like the Government, councils, police and transport groups should do about it. We checked how these organisations were doing with this work in 2012 and 2013.

England

Wales

Scotland

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This is our final report about:

what some of these organisations told us they have done since 2013

what still needs to be done.

The UK Government has a plan about hate crime in England and Wales. There is better information about:

how much disability hate crime happens in England and Wales

who hate crime happens to. There are some projects in Scotland to:

help more people speak up about hate crime

make sure organisations do the things we talked about in our 2013 report.

Some work by the UK, Scottish and Welsh governments

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The Government in Wales has a plan about hate crime. A group of people is checking how this plan is working.

More work by the UK, Scottish and Welsh Governments A new group has been set up in Wales to deal with hate crime.

There is a new way for people in Wales to report hate crime and get support. In the next 4 years the UK Government will work to:

help young people think good things about disabled people

stop hate crime from happening. For example, in places where hate crime happens a lot, like public transport and the internet.

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help more people speak up about hate crime and get the right support

do more to punish people who do hate crimes.

Speaking up about hate crime and training for staff

There are some new ways for people to speak up about hate crime and get the right support. For example, people don’t have to tell the police about hate crime. They can tell some other organisations instead if they want to.

Some work by other organisations, like the police, councils and other groups

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Speaking up about hate crime and training for staff There are some other new ideas, like:

a phone number for people with a learning disability to call about hate crime

a card that people carry with them. The card can help them get support if they feel unsafe

Some police keep better information about what kind of disabled people hate crime happens to.

There has been more training about disability hate crime for people like:

the police

people who decide if a crime goes to court

people who work with people in prisons.

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Speaking up about hate crime and training for staff

Some training will help police support people who have a lot of hate crime happen to them. There will be more training for bus drivers in England and Wales about hate crime. Support for victims of hate crime

There is a leaflet about support for victims of hate crime and people who see a hate crime happen. It is on this website:

http://www.cps.gov.uk/publications/docs/hate_crime_leaflet_2016_easy_read.pdf

Organisations working together Local people are working together more to deal with hate crime and help people feel safe.

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There are some good ideas, like:

safe places in Scotlandwhere disabled people can goif they feel worried or scared

a card that people carry with themto tell bus drivers if they need help

a bus in Scotland that people can go to if they need help. There are people on the bus who can help.

There has been more work in England and Wales to make sure:

hate crime cases go to court

courts deal with people who dohate crimes in the right way

people get the right supportif they go to court about a hate crime.

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Stopping hate crime and finding out why it happens Some work has been done to look at why disability hate crime happens and who does it. Some transport groups are doing more to help people report hate crime and keep disabled people safe. There are checks to see how well schools are doing to:

make sure all children are treated fairly

stop bullying.

There is some information to help children learn about hate crime and how to stop it.

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We found that some things are changing. But much more needs to be done.

We will work to make sure:

the police work with disabled peopleto find better ways to reportand deal with hate crime

there are no problems when peoplereport hate crime.

For example, it should work well when people report hate crime to the police or other organisations.

the police help victims of hate crimeget the right support and knowwhat is happening

organisations that give people supporthave enough money to do their work

Things we will work on

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We will work to make sure:

more hate crime cases go to court

courts deal with people who do hate crimes in the right way

disabled people can get good support to go to court about a hate crime.

They should have no problems getting this support.

the UK Government looks at the laws about hate crime in England and Wales. And the laws about using the internet to say bad things about other people. The Government should look at the laws and see what needs to change.

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We will work to make sure:

transport groups, the policeand councils work togetherto say what they will do abouthate crimes on public transport

there is better information abouthate crimes.

Like why it happens and what needs to change.

We will keep working with other groups to:

help stop disability hate crime

make sure disabled peopleget their human rights.

We have a new plan about hate crime. It will help us with this work.

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© 2017 Equality and Human Rights CommissionPublished: August 2017