Mr Nick Henderson

Mr Nick Henderson

Our ref: 1485

Dear Mr Henderson

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 REQUEST

Thank you for your Freedom of Information Act 2000 request which was received on 8 October 2008. In that request, you asked for the number of homophobic hate crimes reported to the CPS in the last five years, you also asked for the number of convictions for homophobic hate crimes in the last five years.

The Freedom of Information Act is a public disclosure regime, not a private regime. Any information disclosed under the Act is thereafter deemed to be in the public domain, and therefore freely available to the general public and will be published on the Crown Prosecution Service website.

Section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 creates a statutory right of access to information recorded and held by public authorities, i.e. the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). This right is to be informed whether the information requested is held by the public authority or not, and if the information exists, for it to be communicated. A public authority must reply to such a request promptly and in any event, not later than twenty working days after receipt.

You requested the following information:

Please inform me of the number of homophobic hate crimes that were reported to the CPS in the last year and each year for the last five years.

2. Please inform me of the number of convictions for homophobic hate crimes in the last year and each year for the last five years.

The CPS is the independent authority responsible for prosecuting criminal cases investigated by the police in England and Wales. It is responsible for advising the police and reviewing the evidence on cases for possible prosecution (pre-charge decisions), deciding the charge where the decision is to prosecute, preparing cases for court and presenting cases at court.

The CPS defines homophobic crime as any incident which is perceived to be homophobic by the victim or by any other persons. Please click on the CPS website link for further information on CPS policy and guidance on homophobic crime. http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/h_to_k/

Before 2005 the CPS did not routinely collate data relating to homophobic hate crimes, and therefore we can only provide you with figures for the last three financial years. The following table shows the number of homophobic hate crime cases which the CPS received from the police and which were completed in each of the last three years, including the number and the proportion which resulted in conviction and in an unsuccessful outcome. Unsuccessful outcomes represent all outcomes other than a conviction.

The figures are divided into:

Police charged cases, representing those cases of homophobic crime in which the decision to charge a defendant was taken by the police; and

CPS charged cases, representing those more serious or complex cases of homophobic crime in which the CPS took the decision that a defendant should be charged.

Police Charged Cases

		Convictions	%	Unsuccessful Outcomes	%	Total Outcomes
	2005-2006	151	72.6%	57	27.4%	208
	2006-2007	120	81.1%	28	18.9%	148
	2007-2008	79	75.2%	26	24.8%	105

CPS Charged Cases

		Convictions	%	Unsuccessful Outcomes	%	Total Outcomes
	2005-2006	284	70.1%	121	29.9%	405
	2006-2007	490	72.1%	190	27.9%	680
	2007-2008	699	78.5%	191	21.5%	890

If you are unhappy with the decisions made in relation to your request from the Crown Prosecution Service you may ask for an internal review. You should contact the Freedom of Information Unit (Appeals), 50 Ludgate Hill, London, EC4M 7EX if you wish to complain.

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House, Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

Yours sincerely

Information Management Unit

Crown Prosecution Service

24 October 2008