Evaluating Third Party Reporting: perspectives from voluntary advisers.

Abstract

This paper presents findings from an undergraduate research project into third party reporting Hate Crime services in South West England. Third party reporting centres provide an alternative route to reporting experiences of victimisation to the Criminal Justice System and were designed to engage with marginalised communities (Macpherson, 1999). There is repeated evidence that hate crimes are under reported within the UK, with many victims of hate crimes unaware of where to report (Hardy, 2019). Limited research into third party reporting centres suggests there is a lack of awareness that these services exist (Wong and Christmann, 2016). This research evaluated the success of hate crime reporting to a third party reporting centre by analysing the experiences of volunteer advisors working on the scheme. Findings demonstrated that the utility of the third party reporting service did contribute to an enhanced awareness of hate crimes in the community, as perceived by advisor engagement. Disappointingly, the results also suggested that more extensive training for advisors was needed as there was a lack of basic awareness on types of hate crimes and legislation.