Disability Hate Crime

The former Director of Public Prosecutions Lord Ken Macdonald says we're still failing victims of disability hate crime - 18 months after a damning review of the criminal justice system recommended an overhaul of how we handle cases. He says that our approach to crimes against the disabled in 2014 is in the same place that race hate crime was before the murder of Stephen Lawrence 21 years ago. He adds the Crown Prosecution Service is still failing to keep accurate records of the crimes and prosecutors aren't pushing hard enough for sentence 'uplifts' in cases where disability is a motivating factor. The CPS says it is about to address the recommendations in the Joint Criminal Justice Review which was published in March 2013.