Race crime prosecutions up by 29%

Iqbal SacranieRace hate crime cases rose by almost a third in England and Wales in 2004-05, latest figures from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) have shown.

The CPS prosecuted 4,660 defendants for racially aggravated offences, up by 29% from 3,616 for the previous year. The CPS said better co-ordination with police and lawyers had increased the confidence of victims to prosecute.

Religiously aggravated cases dropped to 34 from 49 the previous year, with 23 of the victims’ actual or perceived religion being Muslim. It was Jewish in five cases, Christian in four, Hindu in two and Mormon in one. In four cases the religion was unknown.

Sir Iqbal Sacranie, secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) said the CPS figures were “obviously very troubling”.

“What adds to our concern is that they refer to race hate incidents prior to the July 7 atrocities after which we saw a large number of ‘revenge’ attacks against Muslims. We would urge people from all communities to report these kinds of racist attacks to the police immediately. There must be no toleration at all of race hate or faith hate crimes.”

BBC News, 11 November 2005