CPS responds to CAA research by pointing out that it is prosecuting plenty of hate crime, just not antisemitic hate crime

The Crown Prosecution Service has bizarrely attempted to defend its extremely poor record on prosecuting antisemitic hate crime by pointing out that it is prosecuting more hate crime than ever before, just not antisemitic hate crimes.

In response to Campaign Against Antisemitism’s National Antisemitic Crime Audit research, which was released today, the Crown Prosecution Service issued a statement saying: “Last year we prosecuted more hate crimes than ever before – more than 15,000 cases. We do not recognise the statistics contained in this report. Religiously-aggravated hate crimes display an ugly element of society which can be devastating to victims who have been targeted because of their beliefs. We will always prosecute crimes against people of all faiths where there is sufficient evidence and it is in the public interest to do so.”

The statement fails to address the crux of our criticism of the Crown Prosecution Service, which is that last year they prosecuted a paltry 20 known cases of antisemitism, and only 12 the year before. Admitting that they prosecute many thousands of hate crimes every year, but have yet to prosecute more than 20 antisemitic crimes merely proves the validity of our criticism.

Our research revealed, the parlous state of law enforcement against antisemitism, with hate crime targeting Jews surging by 44.5% in the past two years, but charging of antisemitic crime plummeting by 35.5%, whilst only 15 and 12 known cases were prosecuted in 2016 and 2015 respectively.

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We are encouraging our supporters to read more about the report, or watch our short explanatory video, and then write to their MP.