Hate Crime Advocacy in National Hate Crime Awareness Week (12-17 Oct)

We welcome our new Hate Crime Advocate, Sherene Meir, who joined our team in September. Read her article below which provides a really useful analysis and local information about hate crime and shows how an independent advocate can support you if you are a victim of hate crime.

 

Sherene Meir, Hate Crime Advocate

Any hostile behaviour that is directed to someone because of race, religion, disability, transgender identity and sexual orientation can be reported as a hate crime; there are differences between the kinds of hate crime experienced and reported by different groups. In Newcastle, for example, hate incidents relating to sexual minority groups are most commonly reported in the city centre, whereas this is not the case for incidents relating to disability, race or faith. While in 2019 – 2020 reported hate crime in the Northumbria police area went up by 9%, with an increase in hate crime across all types of hate crime, disability hate crime went up most significantly, increasing by 44% (116 offences).  The majority of hate crimes in this period related to public disorder offences such as threatening or abusive words or behavior, which made up 60% of all reported hate crimes. It’s important to also recognise that people may be targeted on the basis of more than one kind of prejudice, for example for their transgender identity and their race. 

A hate crime might be a one-off verbally or physically abusive incident in a public place, but it can also be a whole series of threatening or abusive actions, which people might brush off or not feel are worth sharing. A recent study into Islamophobia in the North East found that 90% of Muslim participants knew friends or family who had experienced Islamophobia and 67.5% of respondents said that Islamophobia was either a ‘daily’ or a ‘regular’ occurrence.  Over 50% of those who experienced Islamophobia did not report it to anyone, including to friends or family. For some groups of people, experiencing hate crime and abuse is a very common experience and means that they become used to it or adapt their behaviour, sometimes unconsciously, to avoid it. This might mean avoiding a particular area or not leaving the house at certain times. Online abuse is also becoming more common with an increase from 4% to 8% in the Northumbria police area in 2019-2020. Transgender people are more likely to receive online abuse than other groups and half of the respondents to a recent survey reported having experienced over 10 incidents of anti-LGBT+ abuse online.  Even if people don’t report or tell anyone about experiencing hate crime and prejudice based on their personal characteristics it can have a significant effect on people’s mental health – witnessing or hearing about an instance of hate can also affect the wider community’s wellbeing and sense of safety.

Unfortunately, Covid-19 has seen new patterns of hate crime emerging. There have been some groups promoting false information about how the virus is spread which is designed to promote hate towards people based on their race or religion. In some cases, this has meant people being encouraged to infect particular groups (e.g. Jewish or Muslim people). There has also been a big increase in attacks on Chinese people and South East Asians with hate crimes against these groups rising by a third between May and August this year. This has led to a new group forming called End the Virus of Racism to end systemic racism faced by people of East and Southeast Asian heritage. As this example has shown, prejudices change based on what’s going on in the wider world, whether that’s in the media or in politics – the way Covid-19 is discussed by politicians (e.g. Donald Trump referring to Covid-19 as the ‘China virus’) can affect how people view and respond to it. 

While statistics can give us part of the picture of what’s going on with hate crime in the North East, there are many hate crimes which go unreported. Asylum seekers, for example, have been found to be less likely to report to the police due to fears about reporting having implications for their status with the Home Office. Some people may not report due to previous negative experiences with the police, a perception they will not be taken seriously or exclusive police processes, for example lack of flexibility for the needs of disabled groups. Others may have concerns around being stigmatised or judged by their community for reporting.

To have support from an independent advocate for hate crime people don’t need to have reported the hate crime to anyone – an advocate can help people to think about their options and decide what is right for them and what outcomes they need.

Being a victim of hate crime can make people feel very isolated and alone, particularly during Covid-19. An independent advocate can help people to feel less alone and make sure that their voice is heard. Advocacy may help someone who has experienced a hate crime or crimes by:

• Helping them feel less alone.
• Providing practical or emotional support.
• Ensuring they are listened to.
• Enabling them to understand and consider their options.
• Challenging the way they have been treated. 

The kinds of things that people might want advocacy support for as a result of a hate crime include:

• Knowing how to report a hate crime.
• Ensuring the proper procedures have been followed when a hate crime has been reported.
• Understanding the legal process.
• Making complaints or challenging the way a reported hate crime has been handled.
• Feeling safer at home, whether that’s having CCTV installed, moving house or other actions.
• Accessing mental health support or other support groups.

There are a number of things that we can all do to reduce hate crimes and support those who have experienced hate crime. The first thing is to listen to and believe people if they tell us that they’ve experienced prejudice or discrimination. It’s everyone’s responsibility to try to learn about the experiences of different people within our society and to understand how people are treated differently. This might mean making an effort to try to chat to people that you wouldn’t normally chat to or read or watch TV shows or films about groups of people who are different to you. Reducing hate crime might be something as simple as questioning an article or video that has been shared online by someone you know and encouraging them to think about the source of the information they are sharing.  It could be challenging someone in the street who is referring to someone in a derogatory or threatening way based on their transgender identity or disability. If you don’t feel safe doing this, you could instead try to cause a distraction or make eye contact or try and chat to the person who is being threatened to show them that they’re not alone. The more responsibility we all take for listening to each other and learning about and appreciating the ways in which we are different, the more we can reduce the spread of hate crime. 

To make a referral to our Hate Crime Advocacy Service go to https://www.connectedvoice.org.uk/services/advocacy/refer-our-advocacy-service