HANSARDCommons20 Jan 20205 contributions
Attorney General
Hate Crimes: Prosecution Rate
The following is an extract from Questions to the Attorney General on 16 January 2020.
Overall prosecutions have fallen from a quarter to only one in 10. Why is the CPS prosecuting so few people for hate crime? Why is the number of prosecutions falling, not rising? Is that not deterring people from reporting hate crime in the first place?
There is considerable evidence that people are particularly concerned about hate crime, and I do not think they are being put off making complaints to the police about that. We are constantly liaising at the Crown Prosecution Service with local police forces about their conduct, and we focus very much on getting results in instances of hate crime. As I have said, the number of convictions for hate crime has increased to its highest ever level.
[Official Report, 16 January 2020, Vol. 669, c. 1145.]
Letter of correction from the Solicitor General (Michael Ellis):
An error has been identified in the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Hove (Peter Kyle).
The correct answer should have been:
There is considerable evidence that people are particularly concerned about hate crime, and I do not think they are being put off making complaints to the police about that. We are constantly liaising at the Crown Prosecution Service with local police forces about their conduct, and we focus very much on getting results in instances of hate crime. As I have said, the conviction rate for hate crime has increased to its highest ever level.