Hate Crime Awareness Course
Amiya was allocated as the Case Manager for Warren. Warren had a history of racial and religiously aggravated harassment towards a variety of people, but towards Asian people and Muslim people in particular - especially if he had been drinking to excess. Amiya and Warren had been working well together for a number of months since Warren had been released from prison. Their contact had been entirely over the phone due to COVID-19 restrictions, but they had worked well together.
On one day in particular, Amiya had phoned Warren who began a tirade of abuse, focussing particularly on her race and religion. Warren said things like, “Muslims are vile. I can not work with you. Get me a black worker. You and your religion are f**king horrible.” Amiya said “[I was] so shocked that I couldn’t put down the phone down, and so I listened to this all pour down the phone for 6 minutes.”
Amiya phoned the police. Warren was charged at court. His new Case Manager suggested that he complete the Hate Crime Awareness Course offered by Restorative Justice West Yorkshire. Facilitators contacted Amiya to see if she wanted to contribute and share some of the impact that Warren’s behaviour had on her. She was glad he had agreed to complete the course and wanted to meet with him personally. She particularly wanted him to know the impact on her children. As Amiya was working from home, her children saw how distressed Warren’s comments had made her. They were concerned and frightened at how upset she was.
Warren completed the Hate Crime Awareness Course with facilitators the following week. It led to Warren agreeing to meet with Amiya to apologise to her, which was the outcome she'd hoped for.
Warren’s version of events was that he'd had an altercation with some youths. This led him to drink, and at the point where Amiya phoned "she just got all of that anger. Both barrels." He took responsibility for what he'd said, and recognised it was problematic and harmful. “[When the statement about what I said was read out in court], it made me sound like a Nazi. I felt like I was a Nazi." He was particularly taken aback when he was told about the impact his actions had on Amiya’s children. He said, "I heard I'd made her cry. It didn't occur to me that she'd be crying in front of her kids. That's not right. I was out of order."
Assessment questionnaires are completed at the start and end of the course. Warren's pre- and post- course questionnaires were broadly the same, with the exception of one statement: "The victims of my offence would have recovered quickly, without lasting impact". Pre-course, Warren strongly agreed with this. Post-course, he strongly disagreed and wrote "It's made me understand that my actions have long lasting effects, not just on myself but others around me".
Warren and Amiya met as they had planned and talked about what had happened. Warren asked for Amiya to apologise to her children on his behalf, which she was glad to do. Amiya said: "[I] came away feeling good about the meeting. I’m glad I had the opportunity to say what I needed to say to Warren." Warren said: "[I'm] very reflective on how I made [Amiya] and her family feel. It's made me realise that I've most likely affected a number of people (including family and friends) over the years. It was eye opening for me."
Two of Amiya's children share their thoughts with Bradford Hate Crime Alliance below:
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