One in every 20 prosecutions for crimes against homosexuals in England and Wales last year happened in Hampshire, a new report has revealed.

Figures published by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in the Hate Crime Report 2007-2008 show the total number of hate crimes prosecuted in Hampshire was 2,987.

Hate crimes include racist and religious offences, homophobic, disability incidents and domestic violence.

More than 70% of the hate crime prosecutions in Hampshire led to a conviction. The percentage of successful prosecutions was lower in Surrey and the Thames Valley Police area, with 67% and 69.7% respectively.

A successful conviction is when a defendant is convicted following a prosecution.
 
This can be where a defendant has pleaded guilty, denies the charge but is convicted after evidence is heard or when the court proves them guilty in their absence.

Hampshire fared about average in England and Wales for the percentage of successful hate crime convictions.

The figures show that the total number of hate crimes prosecuted in Hampshire was 2,987. The total prosecuted in Surrey was 815 and in Thames Valley 2,343 hate crimes were taken to court.
 
A total of seven disability incidents were prosecuted in Hampshire last year, topping Thames Valley where two prosecutions were carried out — all of which resulted in successful convictions.

No prosecutions for disability offences were brought before the court in Surrey. Such an offence is any incident which is perceived by the victim, or any other person, to be based on prejudice towards, or hatred of, the victim because of their disability.

Of the 995 homophobic crimes prosecuted in England and Wales, 54 happened in Hampshire compared with 20 in Thames Valley and four in Surrey.

However, Hampshire had a higher successful conviction rate for homophobic crimes than all three areas, with more than 85% of all prosecutions ending in a conviction.

In Thames Valley, 77% of prosecutions were successful, whereas only half of all prosecuted cases in Surrey resulted in a conviction.

A spokesman for Crown Prosecution Service said the figures did not necessarily mean that the rate of incidents in Hampshire was higher than elsewhere.

“Our area is relatively successful at prosecuting these types of crimes,” he said. 

A spokeswoman for Hampshire Constabulary said the force now has a diverse communities officer dedicated to building trust and confidence within various race and faith communities.

She said it has also set up the Hampshire Constabulary Consultative Group and the Hampshire Independent Advisory Group, both of which involve black, ethnic, eastern European and Gypsy and Traveller community members who help guide the force in shaping policy around race-related issues.

She said: “The figures are a positive indication of the huge amount of work the force has undertaken to encourage our communities to come forward and report racist incidents.

“Crucially, we have invested a vast amount in training police officers in this area to enable them to better identify and resolve hate crimes; each incident is reviewed by a chief inspector to ensure it is properly investigated.”

Gino Meriano, chairman of charity Gay Surrey, said the data collated in the report might mislead people to think homophobic crime does not happen in Surrey.

He said even if the number of reported crimes was included in the report it would not paint the full picture of the problem of homophobic crime across England and Wales.

He said: “When people hear reports like this they think it means it’s just not happening in Surrey and in my experience that is not the case. People tend to think nothing much happens in Surrey because it is quite a rural area.

“I’ve heard people say “there aren’t really any gay people in Surrey” and yet the statistics for gaysurrey.com say there were 118,000 unique visitors to the site in 2008 alone.

“The number of prosecuted cases could be low for any number of reasons.

“There may be gay people who are out there living their lives and being gay isn’t a major feature but, if they become a victim of a hate crime and need help and support, there may be any number of reasons why they don’t report it to the police.

“Whether it is because of personal circumstances or something else, they may prefer to call a helpline or charity which is why it is so important for the police to work with groups like us.”

Mr Meriano said he believed the figures for Hampshire paid testament to the county’s police force and its ability to deal effectively with hate crime.

He said he had confidence in Surrey Police’s handling of hate crime but said the force could learn from Hampshire on how it could improve.

Mr Meriano said: “Over the last three years, Gay Surrey has been working in partnership with Surrey Police developing new initiatives and pro-grammes and they have made a huge amount of progress.

“Hampshire seems to be on the ball certainly in terms of visibility and it would be nice to see Surrey do the same in 2009.”

More racial and religious crimes were prosecuted in Hampshire than in Surrey or Thames Valley.

Of the 450 cases prosecuted by the CPS in Hampshire, 82% resulted in successful convictions, compared with 76% in Surrey and 75% in Thames Valley.

According to the report, which is the first to include information about disability hate crime, the majority of hate crime defendants across England and Wales were men.

Men were the defendants in 85% of prosecuted racial and religious crimes, and 76% of defendants in prosecuted racially aggravated crime were white British.

Men were also the main perpetrators in homophobic prosecuted crime (87%) and disability crime (82%).

In a separate publication, Violence Against Women Crime Report, also collated by the CPS, 68% of domestic violence crimes prosecuted in Hampshire and Thames Valley resulted in convictions, while Surrey had a lower rate of 63%.

The number of prosecuted domestic violence crimes was significantly lower in Surrey, where 376 crimes were bought before the courts compared with 1,691 in Hampshire and 1,318 in Thames Valley.

Across England and Wales, women were victims in 86% of prosecuted domestic violence crimes but only accounted for between 38 and 48% of victims in other strands of prosecuted hate crimes.

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