The CPS (Crown Prosecution Service) has released a report about hate crimes prosecutions in the United Kingdom.

The CPS went ahead with a prosecution in 54% of cases of reported homophobic crime in 2006-2007, increasing to 65% in 2008-2009. When looking at prosecutions it was found that convictions rose from 71% in 2005-2006, to 81% in 2008-2009.

According to the report:
"The rate at which the CPS decided to charge a defendant with a homophobic offence increased this year. In addition, despite a lower volume of cases referred by the police, the volume of cases prosecuted increased. The requests made by CPS to police for further evidence before charge decreased, guilty pleas increased, and the proportion of cases dropped by the CPS decreased. Taken together, this suggests that investigations are more thorough and that CPS is taking a proactive prosecution approach in this area.

"There was an overall improvement in the conviction rate for homophobic offences. However the hate crime target was just missed by 0.8% demonstrating that there is still room for improvement."

Keir Starmer QC, Director of Public Prosecutions, said:
“The CPS regards homophobic and transphobic crimes as particularly serious because they undermine people's right to feel safe about, and be safe in, their sexual orientation. We are determined to play our part in bringing these offences to justice and supporting victims and witnesses.

"This report shows that our performance in prosecuting these cases has continuously improved over the past four years. However, we recognise that there is still room for improvement in the way we deal with homophobic and transphobic hate crime. For example, we want to do more to support victims of this type of crime and keep them engaged with cases."

Simon Burgess, Labour & Co-op Parliamentary Candidate Brighton Kemptown, said:
"I'm very pleased that the CPS have significantly increased the percentages for how often they prosecute and get a conviction for a reported homophobic crime. We must tackle the prejudice and hate head on, I hope this news will give victims more confidence to report incidents."

Chris Cooke, Chair of the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) hate crime forum task group and Spectrum Trustee, said:
"The CPS is clearly making progress in successfully prosecuting offenders in LGBT hate crime.  However the criminal justice system as a whole still has a way to go in achieving the outcomes victims want.

"In Brighton & Hove only about 1 in 20 of reported incidents results in a successful prosecution. And we know from local research that 6 out of 7 LGBT hate crimes goes unreported to the police. That's why the community has called for greater tracking and scrutiny of the whole process, to build confidence that the system can and will make a difference.  A community task group is about to look at what mechanisms can support improving these outcomes".


For more information about the CPS view:
www.cps.gov.uk