Baker rejects call for racist violence offence
01 January 1991
Baker rejects call for racist violence offence
artdoc March=1992
Home secretary, Kenneth Baker, has rejected demands from the
Commission for Racial Equality for a specific offence of racial
violence. His spokesman said that existing laws were adequate,
but a spokesperson for the C.R.E. disagreed, saying that:
"Existing laws covering racial violence are clearly ineffective."
Home Office figures suggest that `racially motivated incidents'
increased from 4,383 in 1988 to 6,359 in 1990, but it is widely
accepted that these figures grossly underestimate the problem.
Guardian, 17.1.92.