User:Gracelorelei/sandbox/londoncrime

The portions I have written would be added to the London Crime page as completely new sections

Hate crime

The London Metropolitan Police (MPS) define hate crime as “Any incident that is perceived by the victim, or any other person, to be racist, homophobic, transphobic or due to a person’s religion, belief, gender identity or disability.” In the United Kingdom it is required by law for police to keep input on any reported criminal activity regardless if it falls into the catagory of being considered crime. The London Metropolitan Police guidelines state "Evidence of the hate element is not a requirement. You do not need to personally perceive the incident to be hate related. It would be enough if another person, a witness or even a police officer thought that the incident was hate related." This leaves the examination of whether a crime is to be considered a hate crime in the hands of the victim, or anybody who witnessed the crime. By doing so, this puts London's hate crime statistics at a higher rate compared to other cities. To compare and contrast, in 2017-2018, there were over 90,000 hate crimes recorded in England and Wales compared to 7,175 in The United States in 2017 where crime is recorded upon different standards.

In 2017, London's hate crime rates increased tremendously, which many argue is in relation to Brexit. E. Tendayi Achiume, the UN Special Rapporteur on Racism, Xenophobia and Intolerance, reported her worry that " the anti-migrant, anti-foreigner rhetoric, developed around the campaign in favour of Brexit had become widespread in society, going as far as to add that a hateful and stigmatising discourse had become “normalised” – even involving some high-ranking officials." Additionally, in 2017 Disability hate crimes increased by 216 percent, while Religious and Racist hate crime increased to 20 per cent. Since 2014, hate crimes against the London LGBT+ community have almost doubled, with an increase of attacks around Pride Month. Additionally, starting in 2015, there was an increase of 70 percent in Islamophobic hate crimes, many attacks having been targeted towards women dressed in traditional Islamic clothing. The London Metropolitan Police believe this is due to a range of factors, such as "A growing willingness of victims to report hate crime, an improved awareness of MPS staff in identifying these offenses and work with partners to support victims." The London Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime developed a Crime Reduction Strategy in hopes of "Boosting confidence across all communities in reporting hate crime, develop ways to prevent offenses and reduce repeat victimization and outlines how agencies can work together to ensure swift and sure justice for victims."

History of Female Crime in London

As one of the largest cities in Europe, especially in the 18th and 19th century, London has had immense criminal activity throughout history. Between 1690 and 1735, London experienced an influx of crime from female perpetrators. Female criminality, historically has received less attention than male criminality. Starting in the 1690s particularly, an increase of women were prosecuted at Old Baileys, the Central Criminal Court of England, and between 1690 and 1735, women made up 40 percent of the criminal cases processed through Old Bailey. In this time, theft was the most common crime among women, making up over 50 percent of overall theft cases.



Furthermore, prostitution was a crime women were often associated with. While women were infrequently charged with Prostitution itself due to its questionable legality, theft and "disorderly behavior" were amongst the more popular charges women faced associated with prostitution. Women in Rosemary Lane, a neighborhood in 18th century London, known for its crime ridden streets ,are great examples of this as they were known to combined theft with prostitution. For example, a reoffending thief named Charlotte Walker "Either accosted men in the street, and then put her hands in their breeches pockets, or she picked men’s pockets whilst drinking with them, or she or an accomplice took men to lodgings and stole their money and watches while they slept." The affiliation between prostitution and theft can explain why prostitutes received the attention they did from police. The cause behind the influx of female crime can be pinpointed to several factors, one factor being the the time period of war between 1691 and 1713, with a decrease in male population and crime. Another factor to be considered is the influx of female migrants into London in this time period. Single women were particularly targeted in this time period because of societal stereotypes connecting single women and prostitution, influenced by a campaign titled Reformation of Manners.

Another popular crime women were prosecuted for at The Old Bailey was "Infanticide". Many women prosecuted for this, (often Domestic Servants, and unmarried mothers) were believed to have done it in protection of their health and livelihood. Unmarried women often did not receive the same birthing assistance as married women, which put their births at higher risk. Additionally, unmarried mothers were at more risk of "temporary insanity, and of killing their babies, due to their acute poverty and feelings of profound shame". In the 19th century, London made up over half of children homicides in the United Kingdom, a London coroner Edwin Lankester, stated "12,000 London Mothers had murdered their infants without detection." Attention towards infanticide, predominantly stemmed from medical professionals warning the community of an Infanticide epidemic. W.T Charley the spokesman for Infant Life Protection Society warned the community Infanticide was more common for "illegitimate children and first born of unmarried parents" In the 20th century Infanticide still remained a viable concern. Statistics showed that in The United Kingdom infants under one year old were four times more likely of becoming victims of homicide than older children or the general population" In the 20th century, the annual rate of Infanticide remained somewhat constant since the Homicide Act (1957). Unlike the past, where women were predominantly charged for Infanticide, in the 20th century studies showed that both mothers and fathers were guilty of the act.