Cyber-Disability Hate Cases in the UK: The Documentation by the Police and Potential Barriers to Reporting

Zhraa A. Alhaboby; Haider Al-Khateeb; James Barnes; Hamid Jahankhani; Melanie Pitchford; Liesl Conradie; Emma Short

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-68534-8_8

Cyber-Disability Hate Cases in the UK: The Documentation by the Police and Potential Barriers to Reporting

Zhraa A. Alhaboby^*, Haider Al-Khateeb, James Barnes, Hamid Jahankhani, Melanie Pitchford, Liesl Conradie, Emma Short

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Published conference output › Chapter

Abstract

Disability hate crime is under-reported in the UK with perceived limited support given to the victims. The use of online communication resulted in cyber-disability hate cases, recognised by the Police with the addition of an ‘online-flag’ in the documentation. However, the cases remain under-reported, with potential individual, societal and organisational barriers to reporting especially during a pandemic. This paper aims to contextualise the reporting of cyber-disability hate cases, identify potential barriers, and provide recommendations to improve support to victims by the Police. The retrospective examination was carried out on disability-related cyber incidents documented by a police force in the UK for 19 months. Among 3,349 cyber-crimes, 23 cases were included. The analysis covered descriptive statistics and qualitative document analysis (QDA). Only 0.7% of cyber incidents or 6.7% of cyber-hate incidents were disability related. The age of victims ranged between 15 and 61 years, with a mean of 25.8 years. Most of the victims (78%) were from White ethnic background, and the majority were females (61.5%). Three overarching themes emerged from the qualitative data as influencers of reporting or documentation, these were: psychological impact, fear for safety, and the type of disability. Cyber-offences resulted in a serious impact on wellbeing, however, cases that included people with visible disabilities were more documented. Further awareness-raising targeting the police and public is needed to understand the impact of cyber-offences and recognise the different types of disabilities, which might encourage both reporting and documentation.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Cybersecurity, Privacy and Freedom Protection in the Connected World
Editors	Hamid Jahankhani, Arshad Jamal, Shaun Lawson
Chapter	8
Pages	123–133
Number of pages	10
ISBN (Electronic)	978-3-030-68534-8
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-68534-8_8
Publication status	E-pub ahead of print - 21 May 2021
Event	Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Global Security, Safety and Sustainability. - London, UK, London, United Kingdom Duration: 14 Jan 2021 → 15 Jan 2021

Publication series

Name	Advanced Sciences and Technologies for Security Applications book series (ASTSA)
Publisher	Springer Nature
ISSN (Print)	1613-5113
ISSN (Electronic)	2363-9466

Conference

Conference	Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Global Security, Safety and Sustainability.
Country/Territory	United Kingdom
City	London
Period	14/01/21 → 15/01/21

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This publication was partially supported by the Police Innovation Fund 2016/17 from the Home Office, UK. It aims to advance incident response against cyberharrasment. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of funder.

Keywords

Incident response
Law enforcement
Online hate crime
Disabled people
Justice
Law

Access to Document

10.1007/978-3-030-68534-8_8

Cyber_Disability_Hate_Cases_in_the_UKAccepted author manuscript, 939 KB

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Alhaboby, Z. A., Al-Khateeb, H., Barnes, J., Jahankhani, H., Pitchford, M., Conradie, L., & Short, E. (2021). Cyber-Disability Hate Cases in the UK: The Documentation by the Police and Potential Barriers to Reporting. In H. Jahankhani, A. Jamal, & S. Lawson (Eds.), Cybersecurity, Privacy and Freedom Protection in the Connected World (pp. 123–133). (Advanced Sciences and Technologies for Security Applications book series (ASTSA)). Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-68534-8_8

Alhaboby, Zhraa A. ; Al-Khateeb, Haider ; Barnes, James et al. / Cyber-Disability Hate Cases in the UK: The Documentation by the Police and Potential Barriers to Reporting. Cybersecurity, Privacy and Freedom Protection in the Connected World. editor / Hamid Jahankhani ; Arshad Jamal ; Shaun Lawson. 2021. pp. 123–133 (Advanced Sciences and Technologies for Security Applications book series (ASTSA)).

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title = "Cyber-Disability Hate Cases in the UK: The Documentation by the Police and Potential Barriers to Reporting",

abstract = "Disability hate crime is under-reported in the UK with perceived limited support given to the victims. The use of online communication resulted in cyber-disability hate cases, recognised by the Police with the addition of an {\textquoteleft}online-flag{\textquoteright} in the documentation. However, the cases remain under-reported, with potential individual, societal and organisational barriers to reporting especially during a pandemic. This paper aims to contextualise the reporting of cyber-disability hate cases, identify potential barriers, and provide recommendations to improve support to victims by the Police. The retrospective examination was carried out on disability-related cyber incidents documented by a police force in the UK for 19 months. Among 3,349 cyber-crimes, 23 cases were included. The analysis covered descriptive statistics and qualitative document analysis (QDA). Only 0.7% of cyber incidents or 6.7% of cyber-hate incidents were disability related. The age of victims ranged between 15 and 61 years, with a mean of 25.8 years. Most of the victims (78%) were from White ethnic background, and the majority were females (61.5%). Three overarching themes emerged from the qualitative data as influencers of reporting or documentation, these were: psychological impact, fear for safety, and the type of disability. Cyber-offences resulted in a serious impact on wellbeing, however, cases that included people with visible disabilities were more documented. Further awareness-raising targeting the police and public is needed to understand the impact of cyber-offences and recognise the different types of disabilities, which might encourage both reporting and documentation.",

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note = "Funding Information: This publication was partially supported by the Police Innovation Fund 2016/17 from the Home Office, UK. It aims to advance incident response against cyberharrasment. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of funder.; Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Global Security, Safety and Sustainability. ; Conference date: 14-01-2021 Through 15-01-2021",

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Alhaboby, ZA, Al-Khateeb, H, Barnes, J, Jahankhani, H, Pitchford, M, Conradie, L & Short, E 2021, Cyber-Disability Hate Cases in the UK: The Documentation by the Police and Potential Barriers to Reporting. in H Jahankhani, A Jamal & S Lawson (eds), Cybersecurity, Privacy and Freedom Protection in the Connected World. Advanced Sciences and Technologies for Security Applications book series (ASTSA), pp. 123–133, Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Global Security, Safety and Sustainability., London, United Kingdom, 14/01/21. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-68534-8_8

Cyber-Disability Hate Cases in the UK: The Documentation by the Police and Potential Barriers to Reporting. / Alhaboby, Zhraa A.; Al-Khateeb, Haider; Barnes, James et al.
Cybersecurity, Privacy and Freedom Protection in the Connected World. ed. / Hamid Jahankhani; Arshad Jamal; Shaun Lawson. 2021. p. 123–133 (Advanced Sciences and Technologies for Security Applications book series (ASTSA)).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Published conference output › Chapter

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AU - Alhaboby, Zhraa A.

AU - Al-Khateeb, Haider

AU - Barnes, James

AU - Jahankhani, Hamid

AU - Pitchford, Melanie

AU - Conradie, Liesl

AU - Short, Emma

N1 - Funding Information: This publication was partially supported by the Police Innovation Fund 2016/17 from the Home Office, UK. It aims to advance incident response against cyberharrasment. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of funder.

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AB - Disability hate crime is under-reported in the UK with perceived limited support given to the victims. The use of online communication resulted in cyber-disability hate cases, recognised by the Police with the addition of an ‘online-flag’ in the documentation. However, the cases remain under-reported, with potential individual, societal and organisational barriers to reporting especially during a pandemic. This paper aims to contextualise the reporting of cyber-disability hate cases, identify potential barriers, and provide recommendations to improve support to victims by the Police. The retrospective examination was carried out on disability-related cyber incidents documented by a police force in the UK for 19 months. Among 3,349 cyber-crimes, 23 cases were included. The analysis covered descriptive statistics and qualitative document analysis (QDA). Only 0.7% of cyber incidents or 6.7% of cyber-hate incidents were disability related. The age of victims ranged between 15 and 61 years, with a mean of 25.8 years. Most of the victims (78%) were from White ethnic background, and the majority were females (61.5%). Three overarching themes emerged from the qualitative data as influencers of reporting or documentation, these were: psychological impact, fear for safety, and the type of disability. Cyber-offences resulted in a serious impact on wellbeing, however, cases that included people with visible disabilities were more documented. Further awareness-raising targeting the police and public is needed to understand the impact of cyber-offences and recognise the different types of disabilities, which might encourage both reporting and documentation.

KW - Incident response

KW - Law enforcement

KW - Online hate crime

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KW - Justice

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Alhaboby ZA, Al-Khateeb H, Barnes J, Jahankhani H, Pitchford M, Conradie L et al. Cyber-Disability Hate Cases in the UK: The Documentation by the Police and Potential Barriers to Reporting. In Jahankhani H, Jamal A, Lawson S, editors, Cybersecurity, Privacy and Freedom Protection in the Connected World. 2021. p. 123–133. (Advanced Sciences and Technologies for Security Applications book series (ASTSA)). Epub 2021 May 21. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-68534-8_8

Cyber-Disability Hate Cases in the UK: The Documentation by the Police and Potential Barriers to Reporting

Abstract

Publication series

Conference

Bibliographical note

Keywords

Access to Document

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