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Recording of potential Hate Crimes by the Swiss Police Corps: Results of an Explorative Study
Sat, September 9, 9:30 to 10:45am, Palazzo Affari, Floor: second floor, Affari 3Abstract
Hate crime offences are based on prejudice against people with sensitive identity characteristics such as skin colour, origin, nationality, culture, religion, gender or sexual orientation. It is about intentions of exclusion and hatred towards such persons. Hate crimes always comprise two components: a criminal offence and a prejudice motive. In Switzerland, there have only been a few standardised statistics on the extent and circumstances of such attacks. The most recent report based on the LGBT+ helpline launched in 2016 shows, for example, that physical and psychological assaults against people from the LGBTI+ community not only happen regularly, but are also increasing. In this context, various political initiatives at national and cantonal level have been underway for some time, which demand, among other things, the recording of hate crime by the police corps as well as their training on the topic of LGBTI+. However, the recording of hate crime by police corps is controversial, which is partly due to the subjective assessment of victims and the delimitation of the individual categories. Furthermore, it remains unclear which corps record which offences at all. In order to create transparency on the situation, the Division of police science of the Cantonal Police of Basel-Stadt designed a national survey. Its aim was to find out which corps have been recording potential hate crime offences since when. Secondly, it was about collecting information on the process of recording, and thirdly, about the information policy and training. The survey was completed by 27 Swiss police corps as well as by representatives from France and Germany. The inclusion of the latter allows a comparison with the situation in these neighbouring countries. The study results offer for the first time a national overview on the topic. They provide the basis for a transparent discussion and enable recommendations.