Letter from The Council of Christians
and Jews
Thank you for your letter regarding questions
8, 9 and 10. I was unaware, when writing the first paper that
I submitted, that religious hatred had been included as an offence
in the Anti-Terrorism Crime and Security Act, which came into
force last December. This is a very recent piece of legislation
and it is therefore not surprising that only one conviction has
so far been secured, as reported in The Times, Saturday
27 July.
In that case, it is reported that the defendant
clearly expresses both hostile views about Islam and hatred of
Muslims, in a violent manner.
I take it that the prosecution was able to proceed
because the defendant clearly expressed religious hatred, rather
than confining himself to animus against a group of persons defined
in religious terms; ie he spoke about Islam, as well as referring
to Muslims. To the best of my knowledge this is unusual; I would
expect the number of prosecutions to be very small, unless Lord
Avebury's bill is adopted.
The defendant, incidentally, accepted that it
was wrong to insult or abuse Muslims, but thought that he had
every right to express strong views about "fundamentalism".
This distinction would be sustained by the Avebury Bill, which
would not permit confusion of passionately argued statements of
belief with incitement to hatred of persons. The alternative definition
of religious hatred would, I think, be far less certain, and more
difficult to clarify, especially if we allow for the perceptions
of those who might be outraged by views that they found hurtful
or offensive.
With reference to question 8 many cases are
not prosecuted: failure to apprehend the culprit, shortcomings
in evidence or lack of witnesses mean that it is not possible
to proceed. I am not aware of any cases where CPS has declined
to act, when there was reason to believe a conviction might be
secured, but my knowledge here is very limited and it is important
for the committee to consult with religious bodies, police and
those more closely involved in the legal process.
Regarding question 9, both Jewish and Muslim
communities have organisations which monitor incidents of religious
hatred. Victims report the incidents which are logged and reported
to the police. This means that statistics are available and trends
can be monitored. In using this material it is, however, wise
to clarify what precisely constitutes an incident, and to break
down the incidents into serious and minor categories, rather than
using a simple global figure.
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