If you have been a victim of Hate Crime and require free, confidential advice please contact ASCS - Advice Service Capability Scotland on 0131 313 5510 or textphone 0131 346 2529.  

Hate crime against disabled people happens when the perpetrator of the offence is motivated by their prejudice towards disabled people. Other crimes, such as theft or assault, can also be aggravated by prejudice against the victim’s disability.

The law in England and Wales protects disabled people from hate crime by ensuring that it is recorded as an additional, ‘aggravating’ factor by police and by requiring courts to give criminals tougher sentences where there has been an element of disability hate crime in their offence. However, the law in Scotland only recognises hate crime on the basis of race and religion. This leaves other groups, such as disabled people and members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community, unprotected.

Capability Scotland carried out research in 2004 to measure the extent of hate crime against disabled people. You can read our research report here. The findings are alarming.

• Almost half (47%) of all respondents had experienced hate crime because of their disability
• Hate crime has a major impact on the lives of victims. One third had to avoid certain places or situations and one quarter had moved house as a result of an attack.

Capability Scotland was a member of a Scottish Executive working group set up to look at hate crime in 2004. The group made a series of recommendations to tackle hate crime, including an expansion of the law to protect disabled and LGBT people.

You can access a copy of the working group's report here. An easy read version is also available here.

In June 2006, the Scottish Executive published its response  to the Working Group's recommendations.This report rejected the idea of extending the law to protect disabled people from hate crime.

However, the new Scottish National Party administration committed itself to introducing statutory protection against hate crime for disabled people.

In January 2008, Justice Secretary, Kenny MacAskill, announced that hate crime legislation is to be strengthened to protect disabled people and those from the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered communities.

 The Scottish Government backed Green MSP Patrick Harvie’s proposal for a Sentencing of Offences Aggravated by Prejudice (Scotland) Bill. The legislation will be taken forward early this year as a handout Member’s Bill.

If you want to know more about Capability Scotland’s work on hate crime against disabled people, contact Abigail Bremner, 0131 347 1055.