Prosecutors told to fast-track hate crime charges in response to tidal wave of anti-Semitism
Prosecutors have been told to fast-track charges against people who commit hate crimes in England and Wales, in response to a “significant crisis” for British Jews.
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The head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), Stephen Parkinson, told LBC that “swift, robust and effective action” is needed to prevent daily attacks on Jewish people being “normalised”.
He said: “I'm hearing from the Jewish community about parents walking their children to school and having abuse hurled at them, like genocide.
“Slogans of one kind or another are being directed at young children. And this, I'm afraid, is the daily experience.
“We mustn't get to the point where that sort of behaviour is tolerated.”
The guidance tells prosecutors to make quick decisions on referrals from police investigations, in some cases even where all the evidence needed for court hasn’t yet been gathered.
He added: “All prosecutors want to present the best possible case, and that often involves asking for more evidence than is needed in order to make a decision.
“But in this instance, what makes sense is to take swift action, and I know the police are with us on this.
“So for instance, if there's a piece of evidence that will just tip the case over the line but you're not quite there, then I'm saying to prosecutors, speak to the police, establish whether they can get hold of it quickly, and if you're satisfied that they can, make that decision, don't delay.
“That is different to the way we normally go about things, but we're at a point of significant crisis, I think, for the Jewish community. The community needs to see that we're stepping up.”
The Director of Public Prosecutions told LBC he expected that courts will also fast-track cases, especially where they can be dealt with by Magistrates, in the same way as public order charges were during the 2024 riots.
The move comes hours after the prime minister called in leaders from across health, business, education and policing to tell them that attacks on British Jews are “a crisis for all of us”, as he called for a whole of society approach to tackle antisemitism.
Keir Starmer also indicated that new powers could see some protests banned, after claims from critics that pro-Gaza marches are “incubating terror”.
The director of public prosecutions admitted that there is an upsurge in reports of antisemitism after they happen.
The Prime Minister has also said a new law will be brought forward in the coming weeks, which would allow the proscription of state-backed organisations, like the IRGC, over concerns Iran is hiring proxies in the UK to commit acts of sabotage on their behalf.
Some groups, including the Campaign Against Antisemitism, have consistently called for them to be banned.
While he told LBC it was “too early” to say if the state was behind any of the arson attacks on Jewish premises across London, Stephen Parkinson did say it “may” be the case that some crimes have gone uncharged because of the fact the IRGC hasn’t been banned in the UK.
“It's not always easy to establish that sort of connection, but there is a real concern around the use of proxies by foreign states.
“I think this upsurge in antisemitic incidents is almost certainly in part related to what's going on globally.
“One of the points that is often made by the Community Security Trust is that whenever you get incidents of extreme antisemitic activity, further incidents happen in their wake as a result of the publicity.
“And so it's quite easy to make a read across what's happening overseas involving Israel, Iran, and so forth, and to seek connections. If we find them, we will of course prosecute.”
Concluding the interview, LBC asked Mr Parkinson, who has been a lawyer for more than four decades if he had ever seen hatred on the scale being reported now.
“'I’ve never seen this level of antisemitism in my lifetime, no. And I have to say, on a personal level, it makes me deeply sad.
“One thing we can do in law enforcement is to show that behaviour which amounts to criminality absolutely will not be tolerated, that we take a zero-tolerance approach to this sort of behaviour, and it's prosecuted and punished.”