Stronger CPS cases in hate crime lead to increase in guilty pleas

The CPS is prosecuting more hate crimes, more successfully and with more defendants pleading guilty than ever before.

 As the CPS publishes its Hate crimes and crimes against older people report 2010-11, the Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer QC, said: “All crime is unacceptable but offences that are driven by hostility or hatred based on personal characteristics are particularly damaging to any civilised society.

 “I am particularly pleased that the number of guilty pleas is increasing as this demonstrates that our prosecutors are building stronger cases. The increase in guilty pleas benefits the victims of these crimes, many of whom would find giving evidence a stressful ordeal.

 “Outcomes in cases of hate crime are continuing to improve. We should be proud of the work we have done to secure this increase but I am determined that we build on this success.”

 Stephen Brookes of the Disability Hate Crime Network said that any increase in the figures of prosecutions relating to disability hate crime were to be welcomed. “We are pleased that improvements in confidence building, leading to disabled people reporting criminal acts, is in part arising from Hate Crime Scrutiny Panels which create the identification of local priorities in partnership with the CPS, police and other agencies,” he said. “Our aim must be to ensure that the figures continue to improve.”