The Issue Of Hate Crime In New South Wales

In my experience as a working criminologist, I propose that significant attention be deliberated towards hate crime. Hate crimes have severe implications both for victims and for the community at large. We remain deeply concerned by the under-recording and under-reporting of hate crimes in NSW, which give us reason to believe that it is not being properly legislated.

Hate crime, also known as bias crime, is prompted by a well-rooted hatred or prejudice towards an individual or group based on actual or supposed features such as race, religion, or sexuality (NSW Police Force in Mason 2019: 48). Hate crimes are a violation of human rights and often have severely detrimental psychological effects on victims (Walters 2006: 67). Although anyone can be targeted, minority groups are predominantly at risk. NSW is one of Australia’s most ethnically diverse states— in 2016, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that 27.6% of the population of NSW were born overseas— which makes it all the more important that hate crime is closely monitored here. A study conducted by the NSW Bias Crime Unit examined 1,050 cases between July 2013 and June 2016 for hate crime. The study revealed that crimes driven by racial/ethnic and religious bias were the most prevalent with victims mainly from Asian, Indian/Pakistani and Muslim origins (Mason 2019: 47). The most common offence analyzed in this data was assault at 29% with street offenses, property damage, communication offenses, and harassment making up the rest (Mason 2019: 57). We need to ensure that proper legislation and policing is in place to make certain that all of our residents feel adequately protected.

Recent findings suggest that every day one bias crime, suspected bias crime or bias incident is reported in NSW (Mason 2019: 59). Unfortunately, there is reason to believe that this reported number is well below the actual amount of hate-motivated offenses that occur on a daily basis in Australia’s most populated state, where close to eight million people reside.

The low number of reports reveal an inherent problem with reporting and recording patterns in NSW. Victims feel uncomfortable approaching police for a wide range of reasons including self-consciousness, embarrassment, lack of trust in authority, stigma, and language barriers (Wiedlitzka et al. in Mason 2019:61). In addition, victims might not be able to identify the act committed against them as one of hate crime. Furthermore, members of minority groups have less trust in the police than non-minorities and are hence they are less likely to report hate crime victimization than others as they (Mason 2019: 50). This distrust is impacted by a history of authoritative abuse and is likely influenced by the police, who have been known to keep a negative view of some minorities (Miles-Johnson and Pikcering in Mason 2019: 50). We need to focus on building trust with minority communities so that they feel supported in NSW. New structures need to be implemented that enable members of minority communities to report hate crimes more freely and become more involved in shaping policy.

It is the responsibility of the state to ensure that everyone feels equally protected. Yet, NSW police exhibit a lack of concern in dealing with hate crime, referring to it as “the graveyard shift: what you do when you’ve done everything else” (Mason and Moran 2019:10). One policeman admitted that: “The NSW police doesn’t care [about hate crime]…It’s a political inconvenience they have to worry about now and then…The biggest issue with NSW police is we’re run by old white men … I think the direction in this organisation has always been to shut the minorities up” (Mason and Moran 2019: 11). This is an unacceptable stance to be taken by our police officers. In the new platform on crime, the training of police in regard to hate crime must be restructured so that they internalize the horrific impact of this offense and maintain a sensitivity towards it.

In addition to displaying nonchalant attitudes toward hate crime, NSW Police continue to downplay this major issue by under-recording those crimes which they are made aware of. As one officer said: “Bias crime is the unwanted secret. We don’t want to admit publicly here in NSW that we have tensions between various racial groups” (Mason and Moran 2019: 11). As a result, it is mostly civil society organizations and academics who record acts of hate crime, rather than the police (Mason 2019:63).

Another reason for the low recording of hate crimes can be attributed to the strict guidelines that require police to only record crimes based on the intent of the offender instead of the belief of the victim (NSWPF in Mason and Moran 2019: 7). In this way, clear evidence must be present of an offender’s bias. In the United Kingdom, hate crimes are recorded in the opposite way based on the belief of the victim. Many argue that this method inaccurately inflates the reporting, but it is important to keep both systems in mind. It demonstrates why NSW might show a low number of reported hate crimes, while there are many individuals who still believe that they were victimized.

Even though NSW was the first state to introduce a bias crime initiative in Australia, it hasn’t significantly changed the way bias crime is policed (Mason and Moran 2019:2). Few officers in NSW have been educated on identifying bias crime or appreciating its meaning and relevance to policing (Mason and Moran 2019: 11). Therefore, it is no surprise that frontline police have been known to misidentify hate crime in NSW. In 2015, 40.1% of hate crime cases were proven by the Bias Crime Unit to have been misidentified (Mason 2019:54). This fact, coupled with the rigid reporting restrictions, demonstrates that we can’t rely merely on the police recorded factors. We need to continue combating hate crime with the awareness that numerous instances are not being recognized as crimes by the police, which are indubitably negatively impacting minority communities.

Hate crimes hold severe implications for victims, both physical and psychological. As Walters (2006) wrote: “In addition to the sense of vulnerability many victims of crime suffer, victims of racially motivated violence suffer further psychological damage because their ethnicity and race is an important part of who they are” (73). Furthermore, lesbian and gay hate crime victims showed more mental suffering than those victims of comparable non-bias offenses (Walters 2006:72). Hate crimes are so destructive because they attack the core identity of an individual. An example of a NSW resident being singled out for her race is in September 2013 when a suspect shouted ‘Go back to your own country this is my country bitch go back to where you came from’, and then proceeded to throw the victim’s phone on the ground, kicking her and trying to punch her (Mason 2019: 54). Not only did the victim suffer physical pain, but surely her sense of self was damaged as well, she might have even felt feelings of shame. As outlined on the NSW police website, victims of hate crime can feel isolated, experience a break down in family relationships, feel a sense of despair, suffer from emotional stress, and battle against panic and anxiety (NSW Police Force n.d.). In some cases, victims were found to psychologically suffer up to five years after the hate crime was committed, battling against depression and feelings of resentment (Walters 2006: 73). Often, hate crimes not only hold severe implications for the victim, but also effect their community at large. The immense impact of bias- crimes need to be taken into consideration when revisiting penalties for perpetrators in the new platform on crime.

To further illustrate the devastating consequences that could occur if we do not adequately assess the issue of hate crime, I would like to remind you of the infamous Cronulla riots that occurred in 2005. These riots, in which 5,000 white Australians collided with those of Middle Eastern appearance, brought on a stream of violent attacks impacting NSW society at large and deepening the mistrust between both groups. From verbal abuse, to stabbings, to overall intimidation, it was a horrific event that we need to ensure doesn’t happen again. A more recent, even more severe example would be the New Zealand Christchurch mosque shootings which took place earlier this year and where 51 people were killed and 49 were injured. Brenton Tarrant from Grafton NSW, a white supremacist, was charged with 51 murders and 40 attempted murders. Although it is my hope that we never see actions like this occur in in the future of NSW or committed by NSW residents, it is a reminder as the gravity of hate crimes and how they may escalate if we do not promote mutual respect between all racial groups and have a strong enough structure in place to fight them.

It is worthy to note that NSW was the first state in Australia and the second in the world to create a policy that promotes cultural and linguistic diversity as a social and economic advantage (https://multiculturalnsw.id.com.au/). We need to deliberately keep this in mind, continuing to celebrate multiculturalism, while exercising a no tolerance policy for hate crimes.

Moving forward

• There is much work to be done to advance our current policies on hate crime in New South Wales. It is of primary importance that new police training be implemented so that police can more effectively identify and record hate crimes. In order to improve the way that New South Wales Police address hate crime, emphasis needs to be put leadership roles and senior levels need to ensure that the institution as a whole prioritizes this issue. Furthermore, Relationships between police and minority communities need to be rebuilt to ensure that minorities feel comfortable and supported confiding in/approaching the police for issues relating to bias crime and that there are mutual levels of trust. Perhaps an app, which is easy to use, with many languages, would be less intimidating. New South Wales should also consider implementing third party reporting mechanisms as the United Kingdom introduced, which allow victims to report hate crime through a community organization online as opposed to directly to the police (Mason and Moran 2019:3).
• A plan to diversify police officers should also be put in action, as it has been revealed that members of minority communities have a hard time reporting crimes to police because ethye don’t feel represented in the police force.
• Support groups should be created for victims suffering from the psychological consequences of hate crime to receive guidance and meet other impacted individuals.
• Funds need to be allocated to education to ensure that The issue of race discrimination and hate crimes need to be prioritized in schools…
• Need better law enforcement to manage and tackle the issue of hate crime
• Even though the NSW police record hate crime, we need to allocate resources to actually examine the data to further understand the issue of hate crime.
• Need to create an environment of trust with communities so victims feel safe reporting incidents and need to have a system set up for the follow up

Conclusion

• summarize with description and move forward by analyzing and critically reflecting, provide logical link between summary and what will be implemented