Impact case study database

Creating a new public dialogue on the need for hate crime law reform

The EU-funded study has been pivotal in shaping both public discourse and public policy developments on legislating for hate crime [R1-3]. Walters gave interviews detailing findings between 2016-2018, including on: The One Show (BBC, reaching approx. 5 million viewers); ITV Meridian News, (approx. 8 million viewers); BBC News Channel; Victoria Derbyshire Show (BBC2, 140k viewers); The Today Programme (BBC Radio 4, seven million listers); Live Drive (BBC Radio 5, five million listeners) [S1a]. The extensive reach of these interviews resulted in broader public debate on the topic as evidenced, for example, in the letters section of the Guardian where members of the public cited the research to call for law reform, as well as by journalists who debated the findings more fully (e.g. The Economist) [S1a]. Dissemination of research was further supported by Walters’ launch of [R1] at the House of Commons at an event hosted by Sir Robert Neill, Chair of the Justice Committee (October 2017). Presentations were then delivered to public sector and civil society organisations, including: the National Offender Management Service; the Sentencing Council; Hate Crime Awareness Week (charity); and Equally Ours (charity).

This public and policy engagement has contributed to improved understanding of the impacts of hate crime and how the law should be used to effectively challenge it. This has, in turn, influenced the direction of third-sector charities that work with the UK Government to reduce hate crime. For instance, the Director of one national equality charity Equally Ours has stated:

“Professor Walters’ work has been a crucial resource for a wide range of civil society organisations to lobby both politicians, officials and criminal justice organisations. It has underpinned our work, firstly, in lobbying for parity of uplift in sentencing across all five characteristics [and, secondly] his work on legal reform has provided a focus for a comprehensive overhaul of legislation around hate crime and has aided civil society organisations in developing lobbying options for change.” [S2a].

The significance of the research led to Walters being called to give televised oral evidence to the Home Affairs Committee’s Inquiry into Hate Crime in the House of Commons (February 2018), where he outlined the need for a reformed legal framework and for greater use of alternative justice measures to tackle the underlying causes of hate crime. Findings were thereafter requested by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Hate Crime and their report published in 2019 [S2b] details Walters et al.’s research extensively (Walters/Sussex is cited 72 times in the 58-page report). Drawing directly on [R1], the APPG final report states: “The law on hate crime needs to be consolidated and evened out to ensure that all victims can expect the same level of justice.” [S2b, p56]. Later that year, Walters was awarded the Social Research Upstander Award at the National #No2H8 Crime Awards (run by a coalition of civil society organisations) in recognition of his work on criminal justice reform [S2c].

Shaping formal reform proposals across UK jurisdictions and underpinning new legislation internationally

In response to the findings disseminated in [R1-3], and ensuing lobbying efforts by civil society organisations and parliamentary inquiries, the UK Government announced a full review of hate crime legislation by the Law Commission for England and Wales. The Commission published its consultation paper (no.250) in September 2020 in which it notes “[R1], that examined the legal framework for hate crime in England and Wales, has been particularly influential in the hate crime sector.” Referencing the work of Walters 148 times, the Commission goes on to use the research to underpin proposal recommendations throughout, and pivotally they ask consultees to respond to a newly-designed model of legislation set out by Walters et al in [R1] (p.200), which aims to have the effect of reducing the fragmented and hierarchical structure of the current law [S3a].

Simultaneously, [R1-3] were used extensively by Judge Desmond Marrinan, tasked by the Department for Justice in Northern Ireland to review hate crime legislation, and by Lord Bracadale in his Government-commissioned review of legislation in Scotland. In his final report [S3b], Judge Marrinan recommends the new model of legislation proposed in [R2] and states in a letter “It is no exaggeration to say that this work [R1-2] in particular has prompted a number of… recommendations in my own work” [S3c]. For example, the legislative model outlined by Walters and colleagues in [R1] is adopted by Marrinan [S3b, p.130-132] and he is further persuaded by reform proposals to change the legal test in the legislation [S3b, recommendation 6]. Marrinan also notes in relation to the Scottish law review that “Professor Walters’ academic work was acknowledged to be a significant influence in shaping the final [Scottish] proposals” [S3c]. Indeed, Lord Bracadale’s final report [S3d, p.18-20] has a section dedicated to reviewing and responding to the research conducted at the University of Sussex. Bracadale’s proposals have now been taken forward and a new Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill was introduced at Holyrood on 23 April 2020 [S3e]. The Bill is currently at Committee Stage 2 where MSPs are reviewing the legislation.

Most recently, Walters was commissioned by the international charity the Human Dignity Trust to produce a research report outlining recommendations for enacting new hate crime legislation internationally [R4]. Upon publication, Walters was invited by the Belizean Special Envoy for Women and Children to advise on law reform to the Belizean Government. The report was then used directly by the legislative draftsperson as the basis for a new Hate Crime Bill, which was introduced to the House of Representatives in 2020 [S3f]. The Bill, which is the first piece of hate crime legislation in central America / the Caribbean, aims to provide protection to six identity characteristics (race, religion, sexual orientation, disability, gender identity and sex). The draftsperson for the Attorney General’s Office states in a letter “The Bill which I prepared is constructed on the basis of the recommendations of [R4] … The draft Bill would not have taken the form it did but for the influence of Walters’ work.” [S3g].

Changes to national prosecution guidelines

[R1] outlined nine recommendations to change prosecution practice. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) responded formally to each of its recommendations, including changing its CPS Evidence Checklist (based on that outlined in [R1]), which is used to assist police and prosecutors prepare evidence for trial [S4a]. Further amendments were made to the CPS’ Racist and Religious Hate Crime Legal Guidance section on “alternative charges” based on findings that uncovered a disparity in day-to-day practice [S4b]. The CPS Legal Lead on Hate Crime states in an email to all regional hate crime leads that “[this] update is as a result [of] an article on hate crime in the Criminal Law Journal [Review] written by Professor Mark Walters of Sussex University.” [S4a]. The fourth and fifth paragraphs of the guidance are now fully revised online [S4b]. These amended guidelines directly affect charging practices across the country (as prosecutors must include alternative charges in the Crown Court) affecting circa 15,000 cases each year [S4c].

Impact on national and regional restorative justice programmes

In addition to law reform work, Walters has carried out impact-led research on alternative justice measures to combat hate crime. His book Hate Crime and Restorative Justice [R1], launched in the House of Commons in July 2014, has provided both theoretical grounding and practical guidance to new restorative initiatives run regionally and nationally by criminal justice agencies and civil society organisations. Collectively, these projects have offered hundreds of victims and offenders an alternative justice process aimed at resolving the harms caused by hate crimes. Examples include:

• Why Me?, a national restorative justice (RJ) charity, which set up a RJ programme in 2017 across multiple police forces in England. The project manager stated that the book “has been critical to Why Me?'s project … [and] provided [the programme] with an academic rationale [and has] helped to shape the trajectory of the work” [S5a]. The book is also prescribed reading for all new restorative practitioners working on the programme. As a result of the programme, Cambridge, Lancashire and Avon & Somerset police services are all now referring hate crimes for RJ, with two areas reporting a “significant increase in hate crime cases” being referred for RJ since the start of the Why Me? programme. A further five police areas are now at the beginning stages of working to offer RJ for hate crime [S5a].

• Restore DiverCity is a police-led programme that uses RJ for “low-level” hate crime cases in East Sussex and was established in 2015 by Brighton and Hove Police after the city RJ coordinator attended a workshop led by Walters. The programme coordinator stated “I have worked in partnership with Dr Walters since [his book’s launch] with his knowledge and research feeding into the development of restorative justice across the city” [S5b].

• The book’s findings underpinned a HEFCE-funded restorative programme, Restore Respect, set up in 2018 at the Universities of Sussex and Brighton. 82 student support staff have been trained on the harms of hate, and 12 new university-based practitioners have had advanced three-day training drawing on case studies from the book. 15 students who have experienced a hate incident on campus have been referred to Restore Respect. A full toolkit and training materials have been disseminated to the Office for Students and are now freely available to all universities across the UK via the University of Sussex website.