In the report entitled 'getting away with murder' launched by Scope, Disability Now magazine and the UK Disabled People’s Council (UKDPC) shows that disabled people throughout the UK are facing “a crisis of justice”. Widespread casual and institutional disablism in Britain creates the conditions where disability hate crime can flourish without being recognised or challenged.
Despite a complete lack of official government data on the prevalence of hate crime against disabled people, research by a number of charities shows that incidents of hate crime are widespread - disabled people are four times more likely to be violently assaulted than non-disabled people and almost twice as likely to be burgled.
Hate crimes against disabled people are driven by the belief that disabled people are inferior; in some cases less than human, of no value to society according to the report. But it shows that hate crimes against disabled people are rarely recognised by the police and criminal justice system, a fact which allows some perpetrators to “get away with murder”.
The report sets out a series of recommendations aimed at tackling disability hate crime. They include:
Recommendations
- Tackle disablist attitudes and behaviours as soon as they start, especially at school
- Eliminate casual and institutional disablism in wider society
- Ensure disabled people have equal access to the criminal justice system
- Empower disabled people and their organisations to co-produce effective responses to hate crime with statutory agencies.
- Improve official data collection and research into the prevalence of disability hate crime
Download an easy read summary of the report here (.pdf format)
Disability abuse
