Minister reaffirms fight against race hate crimes

Criminal Justice Minister John Spellar has reaffirmed the government's commitment to tackling all hate motivated crime in Northern Ireland.

During a visit to the Northern Ireland Council for Ethnic Minorities (NICEM), Mr Spellar described race hate crime as "utterly despicable" and pledged that the government would be tackling the problem with the same vigour as it does sectarianism.

Following a meeting with NICEM staff at its headquarters in Belfast the Minister said: “Tough new legislation comes into force next week to tackle so-called ‘hate crime’ in Northern Ireland.

"The timely introduction of this much needed legislation gives additional powers to the judiciary to hand down sentences appropriate to the seriousness of the crime.

“Under the new laws there is a statutory requirement to treat racial and religious aggravation and hatred of sexual orientation or disability as an aggravating factor when sentencing. This new legislation substantially strengthens the measures available to tackle crime motivated by such hatred."

Mr Spellar said the government was also committed to tackling car crime in Northern Ireland and said that the new legislation would create two new offences that will deal with crimes often wrongly known as 'joy-riding'.

These new offences can attract appropriately heavy penalties of up to fourteen years in prison again strengthening the powers available to the courts.

The Criminal Justice (No. 2) (NI) Order 2004 comes into force on 28th September 2004.

(MB/GMCG)