The Centre for Hate Studies
Identifying barriers and solutions to under-reporting
The Centre for Hate Studies was awarded a grant from the Equality and Human Rights Commission to lead a project that tackles homophobic, transphobic and biphobic hate crime in Leicester and Leicestershire. In particular, this piece of work aimed to address the problem of under-reporting amongst Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) victims of hate crime.
The project involved a programme of tailored work with LGBT communities and with local criminal justice agencies, local authorities and a coalition of community and voluntary organisations.
In addition to raising awareness of existing hate crime reporting pathways, this work identified differences in need and perception across different groups and identified victims’ expectations of the support required from statutory and voluntary sector service providers.
We used the findings to create a new and accessible third party reporting structure and to produce a set of recommendations on how agencies and partnerships can improve existing policy and practice.
Although there is strong evidence to show that reporting levels within LGBT populations are particularly low, little is known about ways to increase reporting and to make members of these communities feel safer and less vulnerable. We therefore welcomed the opportunity to identify barriers to reporting, and to develop innovative and sustainable reporting mechanisms.