Increase sentences for racists, says adviser

RACIST attackers should get longer jail sentences, according to the State’s racism watchdog. The Government’s leading adviser on racism, Philip Watt last night called for more effective measures to tackle the rise in racist violence and harassment.

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.