Disability Hate Crime
• Prosecutors are "still in the foothills" when it comes to prosecuting disability hate crime, the Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer QC said yesterday in a speech to the University of Sussex's Law School as part of its 'Issues in Criminal Justice’ series.
The DPP warned that thousands of cases go unreported each year, and crimes such as name calling, bullying and harassment of disabled people are not fully understood by the general public and are so widespread they are considered routine. Calling for a change in society's attitude towards these types of offences, he said:
"The idea of people being targeted as a victim of crime because of their disability is still relatively new.
"It is not fully understood by the general public and, more surprisingly perhaps, is not always recognised by the victims of such behaviour or by those with responsibility for dealing with it."
Many disabled people do not appreciate that constant name calling, mimicking and bullying which often escalates to more serious forms of harassment and violence are criminal activities. That may be because such behaviour is so widespread as to be considered routine.
"Unless we as a society recognise and confront this issue there is little prospect of more cases coming into the system and we will have missed a valuable opportunity to tackle this important area."
He said that although a lot of good work has been done, and continues to be done, prosecutors also need to better recognise the needs of victims and witnesses with disabilities.
Read more about the speech here.
Anne Darwin
• Coverage in the Daily Mail this morning this morning stated that prosecutors had missed opportunities to recover assets from Anne Darwin, who is currently serving her six and a half year prison sentence for fraud.
The story is not correct. Far from there having been a “legal blunder” as asserted by the Daily Mail, the Enforcement Receiver appointed by the court in this case is working closely with the Panamanian authorities and continues to actively pursue those assets. As we have stated previously, there is currently no reason to believe the Panama assets from her criminal behaviour will not be recovered.
Again, contrary to the Mail’s report, the apartment owned by Mrs Darwin in Panama has now been sold subject to contract and the monies are expected to be returned to the UK. The Enforcement Receiver is actively pursuing the assets of £143,952 in the HSBC in Panama and is in the process of agreeing the transfer of funds. The land at Gatun Lake (Escobal) is still on the market for sale and Mrs Darwin is co-operating with the Enforcement Receiver.
Rape prosecutions
• This week’s episode of Silk on BBC1 suggested that “almost no” rape prosecutions end in conviction. While it accepted that the number of rapes reported to police which result in conviction is low, those that are prosecuted by the CPS usually result in conviction. In fact, three in five (59.4%) of those rape cases which are charged by the CPS result in conviction. This is a rise of just under five percentage points since 2006-7.
CPS lawyers are required to explore every avenue to find sufficient evidence to charge. The verdict has to be left to a jury, the CPS having gone through all the steps to support the complainant to give their best evidence.
Last month, Keir Starmer QC launched a consultation on interim guidance for prosecutors in cases where a complainant of rape or domestic violence retracts an allegation and where they could face a charge of perverting the course of justice. Mr Starmer said:
"These are very difficult cases which need to be handled carefully and sensitively. Our interim guidance aims to protect individuals who retract a truthful allegation as a result of pressure or fear of violence, while taking a firm approach to those who make a malicious allegation against an innocent person."
You can respond to the consultation before 6 May.
The consultation is one of a number of steps the CPS is taking in a long-term drive to improve the quality of service to rape and domestic violence victims.
