Race-Hate Crimes Rise 28 Percent

December 4, 2006

Source: ITN News

http://www.itn.co.uk/news/britain_be4c0e8fe9babe292c1832389709d91f.html

The number of people charged with race crimes soared by 28 per cent last year, Crown Prosecution Service figures show.

There were a total of 7,430 cases and of those 6,123 defendants were actually taken to court.

Data also showed religiously-aggravated cases rose by 26.5 per cent although actual numbers of cases remained very small with 43 defendants charged by police and 41 of those prosecuted.

Director of Public Prosecutions Ken Macdonald QC said there was no evidence of a significant backlash against Muslims in the wake of the July 7 bombings with 12 religiously-motivated cases in the rest of that month. The attacker specifically referred to the bombings in six cases.

The actual or perceived religion of the victims was known in 22 out of 43 religiously-motivated cases, and of those 18 were identified as Muslim, three as Christian and one as Sikh.