---

Racial Harassment: Preston

Answer

Since 1997, the Government have introduced the following pieces of legislation to tackle racial harassment: the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 (as amended by the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001); the Race Relations Act 2000, and the Criminal Justice Act 2003. The figures on the use of the powers relevant to this group of legislation are available at police force area level only. Therefore, the data in the following table provides information on Lancashire police force area and are reflective of the steps that both central and local government are taking to address significant underreporting of hate crime, including racist hate crime.

Number of defendants proceeded against at the magistrates courts for selected offences in the Lancashire police force area, 1998 to 2007¹, ²
Description	Statute	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
Racially aggravated wounding or inflicting grievous bodily harm (inflicting bodily injury with or without weapon)	Offences against the Person Act 1861 s.20 as amended by Crime and Disorder Act 1998 s.2991)(a) and (2)	—	—	2	1	—	—	1	—	—	—
Racially aggravated actual bodily harm (assaults occasioning ABH)	Offences against the Person Act 1861 s.47 as amended by Crime and Disorder Act 1998 s.29(1)(b) and (2)	—	4	10	9	10	12	8	11	15	20
Racially Aggravated Common Assault	Crime and Disorder Act 1998 s.29(1)(c) and (3)	1	3	11	14	20	27	43	36	35	68
Racially aggravated intentional harassment, alarm or distress	Public Order Act 1986 s.4A as amended by Crime and Disorder Act 1998 s.31(1)(b) and (4)	—	6	13	16	22	20	25	29	74	69
Racially Aggravated Offence of Harassment	Protection from Harassment Act 1997 s.2 as amended by Crime and Disorder Act 1998 s.32(1)(a) and (3)	—	—	3	3	7	16	11	11	4	4
Racially Aggravated putting people in fear of violence	Protection from Harassment Act 1997 s.4 as amended by Crime and Disorder Act 1998 s.32(1)(b) and (4)	—	—	3	3	2	1	—	2	1	1
Racially or religiously aggravated malicious wounding or GBH	Offences Against the Person Act 1861 s.20 as amended by Crime and Disorder Act 1998 s.29(1)(a) and (2)	—	—	—	—	—	5	3	4	12	8
Racially or religiously aggravated ABH	Offences Against the Person Act 1861 s.47 as amended by Crime and Disorder Act 1998 s.29(1)(b) and (2)	—	—	—	—	—	7	1	2	1	1
Racially or religiously aggravated common assault	Common Law and Crime and Disorder Act 1998 s.29(1)(c) and (3)	—	—	—	—	—	1	3	2	8	11
Racially or religiously aggravated intentional harassment, alarm or distress	Public Order Act 1986 s.4A as amended by Crime and Disorder Act 1998 s.31(1)(b) and (4)	—	—	—	—	—	3	1	13	6	10
Racially or religiously aggravated offence of harassment	Protection from Harassment Act 1997 s.2 as amended by Crime and Disorder Act 1998 s.32(1)	—	—	—	—	—	—	1	1	—	1
Racially or religiously aggravated putting people in fear of violence	Protection from Harassment Act 1997 s.4 as amended by Crime and Disorder Act 1998 s.32(1)	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	1	1	—
Racially aggravated other criminal damage	Criminal Damage Act 1971 s.1(1) as amended by Crime and Disorder Act 1998 s.30(1) and (2)	1	7	6	25	24	31	21	22	34	25
Racially or religiously aggravated other criminal damage	Criminal Damage Act 1971 s.1(1) as amended by Crime and Disorder Act 1998 s.30(1) and (2)	—	—	—	—	1	3	3	3	1	5
Racially aggravated fear or provocation of violence	Public Order Act 1986 s.4 as amended by Crime and Disorder Act 1998 s.31(1 )(a) and (4)	—	11	22	39	62	50	50	46	42	45
Racially or religiously aggravated fear or provocation of violence	Public Order Act 1986 s.4 as amended by Crime and Disorder Act 1998 s.31(1)(a) and (4)	—	—	—	—	—	—	3	2	10	5
Racially aggravated harassment, alarm or distress	Public Order Act 1986 s.5A as added by Crime and Disorder Act 1998 s.31 (1)(c) and 5	4	24	51	80	63	97	100	130	199	175
Racially or religiously aggravated harassment, alarm or distress	Public Order Act 1986 s.4A as added by Crime and Disorder Act 1998 s.31 (1)(c) and (5)	—	—	—	—	—	4	7	14	23	19
Total		6	55	121	190	211	277	281	329	466	467
¹ The figures given in the table on court proceedings relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.
² Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.
Source:
Justice Statistics Analytical Services—Ministry of Justice.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

505 c92-6W; 310998

Session

2009-10

Subjects

Racial harassment Preston

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk