"...despite the decrease in the incidence of crime overall, crime
remains higher for disabled people compared with non-disabled people of
the same age."
In September this year, the Equality and Human Rights Commission
released a follow up report on crime conducted towards disabled people,
a report based upon the annual Crime Survey for England and Wales. The
report follows on from one previously released, where an average of
77,000 hate crimes were estimated to have occurred during the period
2007-08 to 2009-10.
The report states that the total incidence of hate crime in England and
Wales has declined at a time when the overall crime rate has also
fallen. However, despite the decrease in the incidence of crime overall,
crime remains higher for disabled people compared with non-disabled
people of the same age. In England and Wales, more disabled than
non-disabled people in every age group had experienced crime in the
previous 12 months before the study. Similarly, in Scotland more
disabled people than non-disabled people aged 16-44 or 65-74 had
experienced crime in the previous 12 months.
There had been some confusion over whether this report also indicates a
fall in estimated hate crimes from 77,000 in 2009-10 to around 56,000
per year. The EHRC indeed reports an average of 56,000 incidents of
disability hate crime committed per year, however, the margin of error
in the study is reported as being around 13,000 cases either way. So,
rather than giving us an estimate of 56,000 cases per year, the EHRC has
simply given us a range between 43,000 and 69,000, with 56,000 being the
mean of this range. So, the high-end figure of 69,000 still ties in with
its previous study on crime towards disabled people, and the many
surveys and polls of disabled people that have taken place over the past
number of years.
To clear up any possible future confusion over this report, I contacted
the EHRC myself, to clarify what their information actually tells us,
and the EHRC kindly responded as below:
"Thank you for your recent enquiry into the above. It would be a
misinterpretation to say that the incidents of disability crime have
gone down over the time period in question, and the report is quite
upfront about this, as you have said.
The aim of the research was to follow up on similar statistical analysis
which was conducted in 2013, to see if there had been changes over time.
The report faithfully describes all of the findings from this, including
ones which were not statistically significant. In line with research
best practice, all findings are presented, not just those which
demonstrate change of some kind.
I don't think the lack of statistical significance in some parts of the
findings mean the study is not relevant. Indeed, the absence of
statistically significant change is a finding in itself, suggesting
perhaps that there has not been dramatic change in the incidence of
disability hate crime -- either up or down. Also, some of the findings
highlight continued high rates of experience of crime and fear of crime
amongst particular disabled groups -- young people, for example, and
those with mental health conditions. The EHRC believes these are
important findings that should be in the public domain."
Firstly, as we can see, the EHRC suggests that "there has not been
dramatic change in the incidence of disability hate crime -- either up
or down". Secondly, young disabled people and people with mental health
conditions continue to experience not just high levels of fear over
crime, but high levels of crime itself.
I hope that this finally clears up any confusion that may have arisen
over this latest round of EHRC figures. As we can see, there has
arguably been no real change in the incidence of disability hate crime
within the UK for the time period reported, and that information may be
important for us to take note of, until more up to date information is
obtained.
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