Building stronger, safer communities
The Challenge
Communities do not function effectively when physical or verbal
abuse or harassment go unchecked and perpetrators fear no
penalty.
Disabled people of all ages find opportunities to participate
constrained by the fear or reality of harassment and the failure of
criminal justice agencies to offer fair redress. This includes
bullying of disabled children and abuse of disabled adults in the
community and within services that are meant to support them.
The experience or fear of crime has a marked impact on
individuals’ ability to participate fully in social and economic
life and on their health and well-being. Hostile behaviour towards
someone who is disabled not only restricts the freedom of that
person but also attacks the sense of security and belonging of all
disabled people. It undermines the wellbeing of their family and
wider community.
Prejudice against disabled people is widespread and far more
common than the experience of overt discrimination. Tackling the
extremes of behaviour, such as hate crime, which only affects a
minority, is essential to demonstrating that prejudice and
discrimination across the whole spectrum will not be tolerated.
Research has found that nine out of ten people with learning
disabilities report harassment as a feature of everyday life.
Research by the DRC in Scotland found that between a fifth and a
quarter of disabled people had experienced harassment in public for
a reason related to their disability. A subsequent survey found
that around one-third of those subjected to abuse or harassment had
to avoid specific places and change their usual routine. One in
four moved home as a result of an attack.
Investigations have also revealed disturbing degrees of abuse of
disabled people within residential and healthcare settings.
Abuse flourishes in cultures that tolerate and fail to challenge
poor relations between different groups in society. In this
climate, negative stereotypes persist and may become
institutionalised. For example, disabled people are frequently
characterised as ‘vulnerable’ rather than supported to assert their
rights. People with mental health problems are widely considered to
be a risk to the wider public. Disabled people’s exclusion from the
world of work, mainstream leisure and education activities maintain
such stereotypes.
Many disabled people have a heightened fear of crime and lack
trust in the criminal justice system. Some people with mental
health problems, learning disabilities and sensory impairments
report that their experience of crime, including hate crime, is
dismissed as insignificant and their credibility as witnesses
questioned.
There is consensus within the criminal justice system that equal
access to justice for disabled people is currently accorded low
priority and investment.
Crimes against people in receipt of social or health services,
including those carried out by staff, are often dealt with entirely
as workplace management issues and without the involvement of
police and the criminal justice system.
In England and Wales there is legal recognition of hate crime
against disabled people. Section 146 of the Criminal Justice Act
2003, enacted in April 2005, requires the courts to consider
hostility related to disability as an aggravating factor when
deciding on the sentence for an offence. Other legal and policy
developments, such as the special measures provisions of the Youth
Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 and the Protection of
Vulnerable Adults scheme, have sought to improve protection and
access to justice. The Disability Equality Duty (DED) requires
public bodies to take positive action to address inequality,
promote positive attitudes and eliminate harassment.
Despite such progress, disabled people experience unequal access
to justice, with low levels of reporting of crime, a lack of trust
in the criminal justice system and little voice in services or new
developments.
Preventing and tackling crime and harassment experienced by
disabled people will require the commitment of diverse players
across the justice and community safety sectors and beyond.
In particular, there is a need for regular research by
governments to explore the prevalence of physical and verbal abuse
and harassment for reasons related to disability.
Policies to promote safety and provide support to witnesses and
victims should not characterise groups as intrinsically
‘vulnerable’. They should not subject people to risk-averse
policies that constrain independence. Instead, they should address
circumstances where there is evidence that people may become
vulnerable to abuse, such as institutional living or poor
housing.
It is critical that appropriate sanctions are imposed upon
perpetrators of harm motivated by hostility on grounds of
impairment or health condition – including use of sentencing powers
for aggravated offences.
This paper proposes policy solutions for reducing harassment,
abuse and hate crime. It is part of a series offering the DRC’s
proposals for a future public policy agenda.
Unless otherwise stated, everything in this paper should be
taken as relevant to all three countries of Britain.
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