The government began consultation on race crime and sectarian crime legislation in Northern Ireland.
Source: Race Crime and Sectarian Crime Legislation in Northern Ireland: Consultation paper, Northern Ireland Office (028 9052 0700)
Links: Consultation document (pdf) | Press release
Date: 2002-Nov
A study examined the working of the 1998 law on racially aggravated offences.
Source: Elizabeth Burney and Gerry Rose, Racist Offences - How is the Law Working?: The Implementation of the Legislation on Racially Aggravated Offences in the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, Research Study 244, Home Office (020 7273 2084)
Links: Report (pdf)
Date: 2002-Jul
A research report examined what can be done to prevent potentially violent racists from committing their first offence.
Source: Omar Khan, Perpetrators of Racist Violence and Harassment, Runnymede Trust, available from Central Books (020 8986 5488)
Links: Runnymede Trust homepage
Date: 2002-Jul
The number of prosecution cases involving a racist incident rose by 28.5 per cent in the period from 1 April 2000 to 31 March 2001. The conviction rate also rose, from 78.5 per cent to 83 per cent.
Source: Press release 8 July 2002, Crown Prosecution Service (020 7796 8000)
Links: CPS press release
Date: 2002-Jul
Researchers examined the first statistics on two new offences of racially aggravated crime in Scots law.
Source: I. Clark and S. Moody, Racist Crime and Victimisation in Scotland, Scottish Executive, TSO (0870 606 5566)
Links: Report (pdf)
Date: 2002-May
An independent report found that crown prosecutors wrongly reduce charges in more than one in four cases involving racial incidents.
Source: Thematic Review of Casework Having a Minority Ethnic Dimension, HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (020 7210 1197)
Links: Summary (pdf)
See also: Journal of Social Policy Volume 31/1, Digest 121 (paragraph 8.4)
Date: 2002-May