Hate crime prosecutions to be fast-tracked after antisemitic attacks
Crime / Wed 6th May 2026 at 07:05am
HATE crime prosecutions are to be fast-tracked following a spate of recent antisemitic incidents, the head of the Crown Prosecution Service has said reports the BBC.
Director of public prosecutions Stephen Parkinson has told prosecutors in England and Wales to bring charges more quickly, in order to clamp down on “daily incidents affecting the Jewish community, involving threats and abuse designed to cause fear and distress”.
He told BBC News it “is important law enforcement steps up and recognises we are in a period of crisis for the Jewish community”.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz72eye5zzeo
Mark Gobell
2026-05-06 07:38:27
Identity based policing ...
Gary Roberts
2026-05-06 08:00:43
You have to ask how they intend to do this. Will they change the burden of proof to probability from the higher standard of beyond reasonable doubt. That will be challenged in the higher courts thus costing the government more in credibility and financial terms. I would suggest they reopen the magistrates court employ more magistrates and thereby reduce the ever increasing court backlog. Will it happen?
David Forman
2026-05-06 09:04:01
Gary Roberts, in my Harlow TUC secretary days I sat in meetings at police headquarters discussing hate crime with police officers, probation service, youth offending team and the CPS. Back then the CPS had a threshold of 80% to take forward a court case. The government have shot themselves in the foot by unraveling the system put in place following the MacPherson report in February 1999 into the Stephen Lawrence murder. Only this year the government abandoned the reporting of non-crime hate incidents. These NCHI's helped build a picture of hotspots of hateful activity. Plus, of course it gave an early warning of people likely to move on to more extreme activity. NCHIs gave an opportunity for early police intervention. This clown led government lurch from one crisis to another, hence why the Jewish community are so fearful and rightly so. See https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-response-to-non-crime-hate-incidents-final-report
David Forman
2026-05-06 10:16:43
To provide evidence to what I said earlier, there is a House of Lords debate from November 25, 2026 in which two peers of the realm made similar points. First, cross bench peer Baroness Gohir said: "My Lords, non-crime hate incidents, even if they are not investigated but recorded, are a good way of assessing the rising levels of hatred in society. For example, increasing levels of anti-social behaviour appear to be linked to hate crime." Second, Labour peer Lord Sahota said: "My Lords, it will be a sad day when police stop investigating non-crime hate incidents. In the last 10 years, I stood for Parliament twice, and I was the victim of such incidents both times. Non-crime hate is an early warning sign of what is happening in our society so that police and the politicians can keep an eye on it." See debate at https://hansard.parliament.uk/Lords/2025-11-24/debates/807EC78F-C61F-4138-B09C-6E5D6927245F/Non-CrimeHateIncidents
David Forman
2026-05-06 11:11:21
To show how inept the Labour government is on Hate Crime, we were promised by our government an independent review of public order and hate crime legislation, led by Lord Ken Macdonald of River Glaven KC, would report by February this year. In the House of Commons in April a question was asked by Conservative MP Jack Rankin about the review. Home Office minister Sarah Jones replied included: "The review is underway and will report to the Home Secretary in May 2026." Three months late already. See https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2026-04-10/126358/
Leave a Comment Below:
5 Comments for Hate crime prosecutions to be fast-tracked after antisemitic attacks: