The True Vision website, a joint initiative between the Police and the Cross Government Hate Crime Programme, was launched in December 2010. The purpose of the website is to publish hate crime data and to enable victims and third party organizations to report hate crimes online directly to the relevant police agency. The online reporting facility received over 600 reports of hate crimes in the first nine months.
The Hate Crime Strategy Board, a cross-government initiative comprised of senior representatives and led by the Ministry of Justice, was established to improve criminal justice service to victims. In 2010, the Board produced the Hate Crime Diagnostic Toolkit, which supports local police and prosecutors in identifying and implementing improvements in the investigation and prosecution of hate crimes.
The Victim’s Fund, which is sponsored by the Ministry of Justice, was allocated over two million pounds to be used for a broad range of hate crime initiatives delivered by civil society groups offering direct support to victims of crime.
In Northern Ireland, the Criminal Justice Board, which is made up of senior representatives of the seven main statutory criminal-justice agencies in Northern Ireland, reached consensus on a shared definition of “hate crime”.
The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Islamophobia was established in the Parliament of the United Kingdom to investigate the forms, manifestations and extent of prejudice and discrimination against Muslims; review the effectiveness of all legislation, with a view to improving the rate of success in the prosecution of hate crimes; review existing mechanisms for the recording of anti-Muslim hate crimes; and investigate and review the role of the media in fostering mutual respect and tolerance and guarding against misrepresentations of Islam and intolerance towards Muslims.
The findings of a 2009 United Kingdom Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) report on disabled people’s experiences of targeted violence and hate crime, as well as concern about public authorities’ responses to a number of high profile and serious offences committed against disabled people, led to an inquiry, carried out in 2010, into what actions public authorities are taking to discharge their legal duty to eliminate disability-related harassment and its causes. The inquiry involved substantial public consultation and evidence sessions with senior members of the criminal justice system, including the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Official figures record 39,311 racist hate crimes in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Police in Scotland recorded 5,819 racist hate crimes.
Official figures record 488 anti-Semitic hate crimes in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
These numbers are included in the racist and anti-religious hate crime figures.
The United Kingdom reported a series of demonstrations during which mosques and businesses owned by people of South Asian background were attacked and people were injured.
Official figures record 2,007 anti-religious hate crimes in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Official figures in England, Wales and Northern Ireland record 4,883 hate crimes motivated by bias against sexual orientation and 357 hate crimes against transgender persons.
Official figures record 1,569 crimes motivated by bias against persons with disabilities in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The Institute of Race Relations reported one physical assault causing serious bodily injury, and one other physical assault against an asylum seeker.
The Community Security Trust reported 114 physical assaults, 83 cases of damage to or desecration of Jewish property (including cemeteries, schools, the buildings of Jewish organizations and private homes) and 27 threats. The Stephen Roth Institute reported 144 hate incidents.
Human Rights First reported three physical assaults and two arson attacks motivated by anti-Muslim bias. The National Association of Muslim Police reported 15 cases of arson and damage to property targeting mosques, and five cases of graffiti in Muslim cemeteries. The Institute of Race Relations reported 12 physical assaults and 20 hate incidents involving graffiti and damage to property, eight of which targeted mosques. The Muslim Council of Britain reported two physical assaults, two arson attacks on mosques and eight cases of damage to property (four targeting mosques, three targeting Muslim cemeteries, and one as part of a series of attacks on the home of a Muslim family). ENGAGE reported six physical assaults, one of which involved serious bodily injury, two arson attacks on mosques, five cases of damage to mosques, the desecration of a cemetery, one case of graffiti and four cases in which pigs’ heads were left outside mosques.
UNHCR reported the murder of a Senegalese man, one physical assault causing serious bodily injury, and another physical assault against an asylum seeker.
The EU Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) issued a report examining the discrimination and violence experienced by Muslim and non-Muslim youths in the United Kingdom. The report found that victims of violence and discrimination often suffered from feelings of social marginalization.
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Observatory reported a series of attacks against a mosque in Essex resulting in damage to property, one case of damage to property, one arson attack on a mosque and one case of harassment. The OIC Observatory reported the serious physical assault of a 13-year-old girl and that the alleged perpetrators were arrested in 2011.