RACIST VIOLENCE IN 15 EU MEMBER STATES - Cospe

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RACIST VIOLENCE IN 15 EU MEMBER STATES - A Comparative Overview of Findings from the RAXEN NFP Reports 2001-2004 Member States are unable to offer any detail about the number of cases prosecuted and sentenced under enhanced sentencing laws. In sum, enhanced sentencing exists at the end of a long criminal justice process which begins with crime reporting and ends, if a case is successfully prosecuted, in sentencing. Each criminal justice stage, from police recording through to sentencing, is dependent on the successful outcome of a previous stage. In other words, it is generally the case that the police cannot record a racist incident unless someone reports it, and an examining magistrate cannot investigate a case unless the police record it. 21.3.2.2. Enhanced Data Collection – An Effective Instrument? New laws permitting enhanced sentencing for offences committed on racist/religious grounds can only be judged a ‘success’ if data mechanisms are in place to record how many cases are being sentenced under these new laws. Where mechanisms for data collection – for every stage of criminal justice – are not in place, and are not made publicly available, we cannot ascertain the success of new legislative and criminal justice initiatives. Some NFPs report critically on the ineffectiveness of existing legislation, and call for data collection mechanisms; for example: Greece Italy Law 927/1979 is the only specifically anti-racist criminal law in Greece, which punishes, amongst other things, ‘hatred or violence against persons or a group of persons, only due to their racial or national origin’. The law has been amended to include participation in organized racist groups and discrimination on the grounds of religion. However, according to the RAXEN NFP reports, there has only been one attempt, to date, to enforce this law. Law 286/98 stipulates that regional centres should be created for ‘observation, monitoring and information’ related to discrimination and racism, to date, according to the RAXEN NFP, no centres have been established. Data collection is left to NGOs and research institutions. The individual country profiles in this report are replete with examples of ineffectual legislation, questionable criminal justice practices, and non-existent or ineffectual data collection mechanisms that are unable to capture (a) the extent and nature of racist crime and violence, and (b) criminal justice responses to reported offences. At the same time, there is ample evidence in the report of encouraging signals, and on occasion practical action, which shows the increasing willingness of governments and criminal justice practitioners to improve how they address the problem of racist crime and violence. 202
RACIST VIOLENCE IN 15 EU MEMBER STATES - A Comparative Overview of Findings from the RAXEN NFP Reports 2001-2004 Whether words and good intentions are transformed into practical actions, and positive results, has to be seen. RECOMMENDATIONS A number of recommendations can be suggested to improve what we know and, in turn, how we effectively respond to the problem of racist crime and violence in the EU. These include both long-term recommendations that can be viewed as gold standards for Member States to aspire to, as well as short-term recommendations that offer Member States short-term workable solutions to the problem of managing and responding to racist crime and violence. For example, recommendations might include the long-term goal of standardising legislation and data collection on racist crime and violence across all EU Member States. In comparison, short-term recommendations could include the establishment or improvement of existing legislation and criminal justice data collection on racist crime and violence at the level of individual Member States. Yet, given the absence of effective legislation and adequate data collection mechanisms in most Member States, even these short-term recommendations can appear too ambitious. In addition, any efforts at changing how the law, criminal justice and civil society respond to racist crime and violence demands the establishment of ‘good practice’ criteria in this area. This does not mean the description of activities that have been labeled as ‘successful’ – most often by their initiators - but rather necessitates a careful analysis of legislative, criminal justice and civil society initiatives for their effectiveness in combating racist crime and violence and assisting victims. To this end, the findings in this report generally show that Member States with comprehensive data collection mechanisms to monitor racist crime and violence also tend to have a range of progressive initiatives to both combat the problem and assist victims. EU Member States might learn more about effective responses to racist violence by being able to tap into information about similarly placed projects in other Member States or in other areas within their own country. At the heart of this exchange of ‘good practice’ is the willingness of agencies to share information – both positive and negative. This can only be achieved if systems are in place to monitor and provide information about the extent and nature of, and responses to, racist violence. On the basis of the findings from the report’s comparative overview of racist violent in the old 15 EU Member States, the following are the report’s main recommendations: 203
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