§ Ms KellyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what are the most recent figures for recorded racist attacks in Greater Manchester; and what measures he proposes to deal with this kind of crime. [69173]
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§ Mr. BoatengThere were 624 recorded racial incidents in Greater Manchester in 1997–98. These are incidents recorded under the Association of Chief Police Officers' definition of a racial incident.
Any incident in which it appears to the reporting or investigating officer that the complaint involves an element of racial motivation; or any incident which includes an allegation of racial motivation made by any person".Incidents included here are wider than the normal definition of a crime in the crime statistics and include low level harassment.
A breakdown of the number of incidents recorded by the police in each police area in 1997–98 is given in the Home Office publication "Statistics on Race and the Criminal Justice System" 1998, a copy of which is available in the Library.
The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 introduced new statutory offences for racial crime which came into force on 30 September 1998. These correspond to the existing main offences which deal with violence against the person (except those which carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment), criminal damage and offences of harassment. They include a test that there was either racial motivation or any aggravating evidence or racial hostility in connection with the offence and provide the courts with higher maximum penalties to reflect the racial aspect to the crime.
The introduction of specific racial offences will send out a strong message to society that such crime is unacceptable and will be dealt with very seriously by the courts.