‘Challenge it, Report it, Stop it’ is the government’s blueprint to confront hate crime.
The action plan, published March 2012, brings together the activities of government departments (who work with local agencies, voluntary organisations and the independent advisory group) to meet 3 main objectives:
- preventing hate crime happening by challenging the attitudes and behaviours that foster hatred, and encouraging early intervention to reduce the risk of incidents escalating
- increasing the reporting of hate crime that occurs by building victims’ confidence to come forward and seek justice, and working with partners at national and local level to ensure the right support is available when they do
- working with the agencies that make up the criminal justice system to improve the operational response to hate crime. We want a more effective end-to-end process, with agencies identifying hate crimes early, managing cases jointly and dealing with offenders robustly
The government agreed to review ‘Challenge it, Report it, Stop it’ to assess progress and to ensure new and emerging issues are being addressed.
The May 2014 progress report provides both an overview of achievements and case study examples, which demonstrate how work is being carried out locally. It also highlights areas that have evolved since the plan’s launch, and what is being done to deal with those issues. The review is generally positive about the progress made but acknowledges that more needs to be done in line with the three objectives.
“Two years on, we have delivered many of the actions under our three core principles, and we are making good progress on the others.”
“However, there is more we need to do to stop hate crime happening, and to protect and support victims and their families, and communities. In contrast to police figures, the findings from the combined Crime Survey for England and Wales in 2011/12 and 2012/13 on the extent of hate crime, estimate that on average there are around 278,000 hate crimes each year highlighting the importance of working to tackle under-reporting. That is why we continue to work closely with a wide range of voluntary sector, community representatives, frontline organisations, and with the Government’s Independent Advisory Group on Hate Crime, who provide valuable insight into the day-to-day experience of hate crime.”
The review also highlights next steps including areas of concern, such as disability hate crime.
“The Equality and Human Rights Commissions Inquiry into disability-related harassment, and the horrendous abuse that took place at Winterbourne View Hospital, provide some salutary lessons on the way the ‘system’ can fail victims of disability hate crime. The Government responded to the Commission’s interim report, and more recently published a progress update setting out the steps we and our partners are taking to tackle disability hate crime. The report on Winterbourne View Hospital set out national action to transform care and support for people with learning disabilities, including measures to ensure staff are aware of disability hate crime, and know how to raise concerns.”
You can download the review and the original report at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hate-crime-action-plan-challenge-it-report-it-stop-it