Racial crime '16 times the official total'

(First Edition)

ASIAN and black victims of crime believe many of the attacks they suffer are racially motivated, according to a Home Office study published yesterday, writes Martin Whitfield.

Both ethnic groups suffer more crime than whites, even allowing for the fact that they are largely concentrated in high crime, inner-city areas.

The study suggests that about 130,000 racially motivated incidents take place each year - more than 16 times the 7,800 recorded by the police. It concluded that there was little evidence that the number of attacks was increasing.

The most common crimes were assaults, threats and vandalism, while both groups suffered high levels of racial abuse at work.

Asians were particularly likely to see assaults around the home as racially-based while Afro-Caribbeans cited a racial element in attacks at the workplace and in pubs.

The figures are likely to lend support to campaigners seeking the introduction of a new crime of racial violence or harassment.

Racially motivated crime: a British Crime Survey analysis. Research and Planning Unit Paper 82; the Home Office.