Hate Crime

Rather than publish my manifesto points as a long bit of text, I decided to blog briefly about one a day.

Today I want to focus on Hate Crime.

I've actually blogged about this previously (scroll down for some material about the figures)

I want to make Hate Crime a priority because it's frankly appalling that people can become victims just because of who they are and their difference, or perceived difference.

Hate Crime makes up a relatively low proportion of crime on Merseyside but it matters because it cheapens us all.

The main "victim group" of Hate Crime on Merseyside are people who are victims because of their race.  But you can also experience Hate Crime because of your sexuality, religion, disability etc.

Some time ago I heard from a local charity highlighing incidents of Hate Crime against people with learning disabilities. It was horrifying that people who were so trusting became victims of those who clearly couldn't understand, or didn't care about, their shared humanity.

Tackling this isn't simple but it's got to be about
* making sure it gets reported and acknowledged
* working with communities and others to make sure its seen as wrong
* starting early in schools to help prevent it.  After all we are not born hating people who are different.

And simply talking about it and raising it will help us know about the problem and deal with it.