Internet trolls will face prosecution for hate-filled online rants in the same way they would if they had abused people in the streets under new legal guidelines.
Hate crimes perpetrated on social media will be taken as seriously as ‘offline’ offences as part of a clampdown on unacceptable cyber behaviour, it will be announced today.
Internet trolls will face prosecution for hate-filled online rants in the same way they would if they had abused people in the streets under new legal guidelines.
The Crown Prosecution Service said bullies will be treated with the ‘same robust and proactive approach used with offline offending’.
CPS policy statements have been updated to take account of the mounting number of cases sparked by abuse in cyber space.
Prosecutors will ‘treat online complaints as seriously as offline complaints’, it states.
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.’
She added: ‘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 Crown Prosecution Service said bullies will be treated with the ‘same robust and proactive approach used with offline offending’
The guidance for prosecutors comes after MPs revealed how they suffered a horrific spate of anonymous personal abuse online during the election campaign.
Community groups monitoring anti-Semitic and Islamophobic abuse also report that a significant proportion of incidents involve the internet.
The revised documents cover different strands of hate crime – racist and religious; disability; and homophobic, biphobic and transphobic.
They say: ‘Hate crime can be perpetrated online or offline, or there can be a pattern of behaviour that includes both.
‘The internet and social media in particular have provided new platforms for offending behaviour.’
The CPS will also recognise children ‘may not appreciate the potential harm and seriousness of their communications’.
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 CPS emphasised that it has always considered each case on its individual merits and prosecutes offences, whether committed online or offline, where there is sufficient evidence and it is in the public interest.
Elsewhere, the policy documents acknowledge that victims of biphobic hate crime have different experiences and needs to those affected by homophobic and transphobic offences.
The CPS also said it recognises it has a responsibility to actively remove barriers to justice for disabled victims and witnesses.
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 per cent in 2014/15 to 83.2 pre cent in 2015/16.