News last week of a barber who cut the word ‘fool’ into thehair of a man with learning disabilities being sentenced to 200hours of unpaid work was welcome – and shows that hate crime isbecoming a priority. Bristol-based barber Michael Campbell was found guilty of commonassault for cutting the offensive word into his customer MichaelRicketts’ hair. Ricketts has communication difficulties andnon-specific severe learning disabilities, which Campbell knewabout. In his defence, Campbell claimed he shaved the word ‘cool’but it had been misinterpreted. Not only has Campbell beenconvicted but Avon and Somerset Police treated what he did as ahate crime because of Ricketts’ disabilities. Detective constableMai Wong said that Avon and Somerset Police take all reports ofhate crime seriously and he hoped this case would encourage othervictims of hate crime and their carers to come forward and reportincidents, knowing that they will be listened to. Hopefully it willit will lead to more crimes being reported and not just by peoplein the local area but around the country too. The conviction alsoshows that the police and courts do take hate crimes seriously andthat if victims come forward, they can ensure that justice is done.This shows that crimes such as this are increasingly being treatedas disability hate crimes, rather than being put into othercategories. It also demonstrates that campaigns such as Mencap’s’Stand by me’ are having a positive effect. One of the main aims ofthe campaign was to ensure the police clamp down more on hate crimesuch as this. Nevertheless, disability hate crime figures are stillvery low; in the 3 years to March 2010 1,214 defendants wereprosecuted, far fewer than for other hate crimes, and undoubtedlyfar fewer than the real total of disability hate crimes. Hopefullyin years to come hate crime prosecutions will increase – notbecause they are on the rise, but because more are beingreported and treated as hate crime – which will hopefully also leadto an increased number of convictions. While there is undoubtedlysome way still to go to ensure that disability hate crime istreated as seriously as other forms of hate crime, it shows thatthings are going in the right direction. More cases such as thiswill send out a strong message that disability hate crimes areunacceptable and that perpetrators will be caught andconvicted.
