New rules tackle hate crime on social media

complaints.”

Prosecutors should also understand the changing nature of platforms and their policies for taking down material, while being alert to the need to identify “originators” as well as “amplifiers or disseminators”, according to the documents.

The presence of hateful content A MIRFIELD charity is asking local people for their support to help fund an unusual project.

The Hollybank Trust – which cares for people with severe and profound disabilities at its residential and day care facility – and its Sensory Garden project have made it through to the public vote of the OneFamily Community Awards 2017.

If it wins, the Trust will receive £10,000 to provide a sensory ‘quiet’ garden, a Friendly Giant tactile feature and three tactile animal models to hang in its monkey tree.

The Trust says the new feature will improve the day-to-day lives and enrich the experience of people who use Hollybank by giving them a wider range of outdoor spaces to explore and enjoy.

Hollybank relies on fundraising to provide quality of life. On Friday, in a free event, Hollybank will welcome animatronic dinosaurs to its grounds.

Head of Fundraising Julie MacNaughton said: “Our application on social media sites has repeatedly been highlighted and community groups monitoring anti-Semitic and Islamophobic abuse report that a significant proportion of incidents involve the internet.

The CPS emphasised that it has always considered each case on its individual merits and prosecutes has been accepted and it is now a matter of how many votes we receive.

“The sensory garden will make a huge difference to the babies, children, young people and adults in our care.

“Hollybank residents have profound disabilities and complex needs. The garden will offer opportunities to engage with their environment and experience their surroundings in new ways.

“Voting only takes a minute but could make a huge difference to those in our care.”

To support Hollybank, register online at the OneFamily Foundation, search for the project in the list of nominated projects, and vote by clicking the ‘Vote’ button on the page.

Projects that receive the highest number of votes will have the greatest chance of winning.

https://foundation.onefamily.com/ community-awards/nominatedprojects offences, whether committed online or offline, where there is sufficient evidence and it is in the public interest.

Alison Saunders, the Director of Public Prosecutions, said: “Hate crime has a corrosive effect on our society and that is why it is a priority area for the CPS.

“It can affect entire communities, forcing people to change their way of life and live in fear.

“These documents take account of the current breadth and context of offending to provide prosecutors with the best possible chance of achieving justice for victims.

“They also let victims and witnesses know what they should expect from us.”

The authorities’ response to hate crime has come under close scrutiny in the last year amid jumps in the number of incidents.

There was a surge in reports following the EU referendum in June 2016, while figures released earlier this month show forces registered a spike around the terrorist attacks that hit the UK earlier this year.

In 2015/16 the CPS completed a record 15,442 hate crime prosecutions.

The conviction rate across all strands of hate crime increased from 82.9% in 2014/15 to 83.2% in 2015/16.