APPENDIX 16
Memorandum submitted by the Northern Ireland
Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders
NIACRO is basing its primary response to this
enquiry on the work carried out by the Base 2 project. This was
established approximately 14 years ago and is essentially an emergency
response service provided to those under threat from paramilitary
organisations and the community. Most of the cases referred to
this project are concerned with intra non state policing eg dealing
with antisocial behaviour such as burglaries and car thefts as
well as dealing with the effects of internecine feuds. However
approximately 10% of cases referred have a location around hate
crime primarily in the form of political/religious sectarianism.
The figures below are extrapolated from 2003
Base 2 figures as yet unpublished.
|
| Alleged reason for threat | Number
|
|
| Sectarianism | 87
|
| Racial | 5
|
| Sexual orientation | 5 (3 male/2 female)
|
| Political | 16
|
| Occupation | 3
|
| Offence type—sex offender | 49
|
|
These figures relate to the work carried out by Base 2 only.
NIACRO would take the view that the incidence of hate crime is
much higher than the above and other organisations are in a better
position to provide a analysis of the problem.
Of the 87 overtly sectarian cases most of these occurred
at the interfaces at North and West Belfast predominately in the
Duncairn, Ardoyne, Springfield and Whitewell areas. Outside of
Belfast areas such as Bangor, Antrim, Ballymena and Larne featured.
The majority were individual or single parent families. The numbers
of cases referred for reasons of race looks surprisingly low however
it is likely that victims of race hate crime would be more likely
to use a range of other supportive networks. The same would be
true of those experiencing homophobia hate crime. The political
category refers to individuals who are perceived as having connections
with political organisations eg Sinn Fein, SDLP, UPRG and PUP.
The final category refers to individuals threatened as a consequence
of their perceived association with the security forces.
In its response to the NIO Consultation Paper of November
2002 on race, crime and sectarian crime legislation in Northern
Ireland, NIACRO made the following points:
— A legislative response to racial and sectarian
crime is unsatisfactory.
— Any developments needed to be supported by a level
of public education both within the mainstream population and
particularly within the enforcement agencies of the state.
— Any new legislation should reflect a connectedness
between public education, enforcement and sentencing.
— Legislation introduced should apply equally to
both racially aggravated and sectarian crime.
— Legislation should be focused on sentencing arrangements
which should include the issue of hate crime.
— The sentencing framework could be modified to
allow sentencers to exceed maximum sentences to take account of
sectarian or racial elements around the crime.
— Consideration should be given to the introduction
of restorative justice mechanisms in respect of the sectarian/race
element of the crime and categories should include gender and
homophobia.
— A definition of all hate crimes be agreed, recorded
and published.
Organisationally NIACRO through its Working in a Contested
Society (WICS) programme has become more proactive in challenging
sectarian behaviour, not only amongst staff but also beneficiaries
ie offenders, ex-offenders, prisoners and ex-prisoners. Work is
ongoing to incorporate antisectarian training into NIACRO's staff
and volunteer induction training. This is work that will continue
in the medium to long term. It is expected that all of NIACRO's
projects will have a proactive antisectarian element in respect
of their practice and service delivery.
NIACRO is developing its relationship with the Prison Service
and would seek to influence not only perpetrators of sectarian/hate
crime but also seek to influence the prison regimes. The organisation
seeks to be involved in the development of public education programmes
and within a restorative justice framework would take the view
that programmes addressing prejudice should be part and parcel
of the restorative process.
NIACRO is conscious that a significant amount of hate crime
exists that is not only conflict related but is also concerned
with other forms of prejudice. Efforts to combat this needs to
be addressed simultaneously at policy, legislative, structural
and attitudinal levels.
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