Policing Anti-Muslim Hate Crime on the Internet
Imran Awan · 2016
The racist murder of Stephen Lawrence, raised a number of questions with regards the manner in which the police deal with hate crime. In particular, the police have been labelled as being passive and not doing enough to help protect victims of hate crime (Bowling 1999). This view is reinforced after a series of prominent cases, revealed how victims of hate crime reported these incidents to the police and witnessed very little action take place. Indeed, in 2007 Fiona Pilkington set her vehicle on fire, killing both her and her 18-year-old daughter, Francecca Hardwick. An inquest would later find how both Pilkington and her daughter were ‘prisoners’ in their home, as a group of youths had targeted them with a campaign of abuse and hate, which included throwing stones and objects at their home. This form of offline and online hate crime has prompted real issues and concerns with regards to how the police tackle hate crime, as a jury found that the police had contributed towards their death, as they failed to respond to the family’s concerns.