Reporting hate crime : learning disabled people and the Maltese criminal justice system

Abstract

This research considers the Hate Crime reporting experiences of learning disabled people in the Maltese islands. From a Criminology perspective, the research is rooted in Victimology and has significant implications for both the Executive Police and the judiciary. The Social Model of Disability is also deployed as the guiding light throughout the work. Qualitative in nature, data was drawn from six semistructured interviews – two with senior police officers working in the Maltese Executive Police Force, one with the lead officer of a not for profit organisation whose concern is the welfare of victims and three further interviews with learning disabled people. The objective of this research was to establish the experience of Hate Crime amongst learning disabled people and their confidence in reporting the same – to whom would reports be made together with outcome expectations. The literature review makes it abundantly and evidentially clear that there is a paucity of academic research on the subject. So, this research effectively lays the building blocks for future researchers to explore some of the emerging themes with larger and maybe more appropriate sample cohorts. The thematic analysis of the drawn data has produced a raft of policy implications, principal of which are the yawning gap in learning disability related Hate Crime training for the police force and the judiciary, the potential for a fully developed witness profiling service and the need for a permanent social marketing campaign and Hate Crime reporting tool, led by a trusted, independent third party, funded by the Ministry of Justice. Schools are also highlighted as an arena for further teaching on bullying at both primary and secondary levels. Considering the small sample size and the learning disabled participants’ closeness to the disability movement – which may indicate a better than average knowledge about Hate Crime and consequential reporting – the research concludes by suggesting further exercises that explore the emerging themes through focus groups populated by learning disabled people unconnected to the disability movement or organisations representing the same.