Criminal justice system must continue to focus on hate crime says Inspectorate

Criminal Justice Inspection Northern Ireland (CJI) has published the findings of its latest inspection of how hate crime is managed by the criminal justice system in Northern Ireland.

The review tracks the progress made since 2007 when the Inspectorate published its initial assessment of hate crime in Northern Ireland.

“This review found that 12 of the 19 recommendations made by the Inspectorate in its initial report had been fully achieved.  We welcome the work that has been undertaken across the criminal justice system to fully complete these recommendations, and commend the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) for achieving the five Inspection recommendations it had specific responsibility for,” said Brendan McGuigan, Deputy Chief Inspector of Criminal Justice in Northern Ireland.

“During this inspection review we found some excellent examples of criminal justice agencies, government departments, public bodies and other groups working together to improve the management of hate crime,” said Mr McGuigan.

They included the establishment of a tension monitoring group within Belfast Community Safety Partnership to identify potential or actual tensions within communities and, the Unite against Hate campaign, which brings together a range of sporting organisations and local personalities, to raise awareness of hate crime, encourage reporting of hate incidents and challenge attitudes.

The Deputy Chief Inspector however said Inspectors were disappointed to find that in other areas, progress had been slow and a number of key recommendations had not been achieved.

“It is concerning that a common definition of what a hate crime is has only recently agreed by the criminal justice system and it is also disappointing that a hate crime strategy has yet to be developed,” said Mr McGuigan.

“This absence of strategic focus is worrying and has the potential to undermine the progress that has been made in the last three years to reach out to minority groups and victims of hate crime,” he said.

Mr McGuigan said the Inspectorate would urge the Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland (PPS) to work to fully achieve CJI’s 2007 recommendation that where evidence exists, all incidents of hate crime are prominently marked on prosecution files and this information is brought to the attention of the court.

He also urged the criminal justice system to implement a process where the use of hate crime legislation is recorded by the PPS and the Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunals Service so monitoring can occur.

“Since the publication of CJI’s original inspection of the management of hate crime, three critical incidents have occurred which have projected a negative image of Northern Ireland on a world stage.

“The intimidation of Polish and eastern European residents in south Belfast following a international football match, the sectarian murder of a man in Coleraine and the intimidation of Roma families – all of which occurred in 2009 – highlight the importance of the need for agencies to work co-operatively to tackle these issues in a holistic way,

Mr McGuigan continued: “The importance to this issue cannot be under-estimated and while recorded hate crimes may represent less than two per cent of all recorded crime in Northern Ireland, Inspectors believe hate incidents will continue to provoke public outrange.

“It is therefore vital the criminal justice system reacts to such incidents in a pro-active and timely manner,” he concluded.