Increase sentences for racists, says adviser
Mr Watt, director of the National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism (NCCRI) urged Justice Minister Michael McDowell to introduce legislation allowing judges to impose additional jail sentence or fines on perpetrators of race-related crime.
“We need to bring in additional penalties for hate crimes, so if someone is assaulted and that assault is as a result of racist hate, then we should look at the possibility of increasing the penalties ,” he said.
The NCCRI began monitoring racist incidents in March 2001 and since then have recorded 81 different types of incidents against minorities including:
Assaults.
Harassment.
Verbal abuse.
Racist graffiti.
Complaints about inferior or insensitive service.
Racist internet sites.
Racist violence is often in response to external factors, according to Mr Watt, who noted a significant increase in attacks after September 11. The current debate on refugees and asylum seekers giving birth here has also fuelled violence, he said.
The Government’s forthcoming National Action Plan on Racism provides an opportunity to take stern action against perpetrators of assaults against foreign nationals, asylum seekers and travellers and there will be a strong focus on racist violence in the plan, according to Mr Watt.
In the US and Britain, extra penalties are attached for race crimes, he noted, and this acts as a strong deterrent.
“Often racist violence is targeted at whole groups and while somebody may be assaulted or mugged it is actually an assault against the whole community ,” he said.
The popular conception of attacks only being carried out on young black men is wrong, Mr Watt said.
“The evidence we have is that it is often women and children who get targeted which demonstrates the cowardly nature of such attacks,” he said.
However, a spokesman for Mr McDowell said everyone has to be viewed equally under the law and there may be constitutional problems with treating one set of offenders differently from another.
The Incitement to Hatred Act was in place to prosecute offenders for hate crimes and this law is currently under review, he said.
Traditionally, gardaí did not categorise racially motivated incidents as a specific type of crime. But under the PULSE crime recording system, racist incidents are clearly defined and next year’s garda annual report will have figures on race-related crimes.
