Action needed to tackle root cause of hate crimes - Lib Dems

9.16.50am GMT Wed 14th Jan 2009

Liberal Democrat Justice spokesperson Robert Brown has challenged the Scottish Government to tackle the root causes of hate crimes in Scotland.

The Justice Committee has today (Tuesday) taken evidence on proposals to extend hate crimes legislation to include attacks on gay and disabled people.

Commenting, Mr Brown said:

“Liberal Democrats believe that there is no room for hate crimes in Scotland. I fully support the proposals put forward to extend the statutory legislation on hate crimes to include attacks against gay and disabled people.

“It is important, however, that the Parliament focuses not only on creating legislation on this issue, but in working to create a cultural shift towards a more tolerant and accepting society.

“We must look at tackling the root causes of why people commit hate crimes. Issues such as drug and alcohol addiction, mental health problems and poor education must be addressed in order to prevent people from committing these crimes in the first place.”