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13
Oct 2020
Only 17% of Harrogate hate crime reports lead to charges
A total of 264 hate crimes were reported in the Harrogate district in the last three years — but fewer than two in 10 led to a charge.
One hundred and sixty seven of the reports were for racial hate crimes, 32 were for homophobia and 20 related to disabled people. There were also 13 reports relating to Muslims and eight relating to trans people.
In total, 46 charges were brought, which represents 17 per cent of the number of complaints made.
The Stray Ferret obtained the figures, which cover 2017, 2018, and 2019, from North Yorkshire Police through the Freedom of Information Act.
The number of reported hate crimes was stable in each of the three years but the number of reports that led to a charge decreased from 21 in 2017 to nine in 2019.
The police cited a variety of reasons for not bringing charges, including being unable to identify the suspect, the victim deciding not to support police action, and community resolutions.
Crown Prosecution Service figures show that the national conviction rate for hate crimes in 2018/19 was 84.3%.
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Hate crime often involves verbal or physical abuse but can also cover vandalism, criminal damage, graffiti, arson, cyberbullying, offensive communications, threats of attack, or financial exploitation.
This week is National Hate Crime Awareness Week and superintendent Mark Khan, North Yorkshire Police’s lead for hate crime, said he wanted the public to feel confident reporting hate crime.
He said:
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