Racist criminals are escaping punishment by the courts because it is difficult to prove that crimes are "racially aggravated", it has been claimed.

Suspects charged by West Yorkshire Police with racist crimes often see their charges reduced to basic offences because the Crown Prosecution Service thinks there is insufficient evidence, a report said.

The claims are aired in the CPS Inspectorate's report on the West Yorkshire service.

It states that some court users it interviewed complained that the CPS was unwilling to prosecute suspects charged with "racially aggravated" offences.

But the report added that the concerns were "not typical of the general perception that racially aggravated offences were appropriately and sensitively handled."

And it stated: "The area places a lot of emphasis on dealing with (racial crimes) firmly but objectively. The area has a standard for dealing with racist offences."

West Yorkshire's Chief Prosecutor said that the comments in the report were "a bit of a misconception".

Neil Franklin said the CPS had a small group of trained specialists who dealt with all cases involving racial issues and that no charges would be dropped without the expert agreement of that group.

He admitted: "There have been some instances where we have dropped the racially aggravated element when there is no evidence to justify the charges."

A spokeswoman for West Yorkshire Police said: "Incidents are recorded as racist if anyone connected with the incident, including the victim, believes that it is racist."

But she said that a charge of "racial aggravation" would only be levelled if there was sufficient evidence to support it.

e-mail: andrew.henden

@bradford.newsquest.co.ukRacist criminals are escaping punishment by the courts because it is difficult to prove that crimes are "racially aggravated", it has been claimed.

Suspects charged by West Yorkshire Police with racist crimes often see their charges reduced to basic offences because the Crown Prosecution Service thinks there is insufficient evidence, a report said.

The claims are aired in the CPS Inspectorate's report on the West Yorkshire service.

It states that some court users it interviewed complained that the CPS was unwilling to prosecute suspects charged with "racially aggravated" offences.

But the report added that the concerns were "not typical of the general perception that racially aggravated offences were appropriately and sensitively handled."

And it stated: "The area places a lot of emphasis on dealing with (racial crimes) firmly but objectively. The area has a standard for dealing with racist offences."

West Yorkshire's Chief Prosecutor said that the comments in the report were "a bit of a misconception".

Neil Franklin said the CPS had a small group of trained specialists who dealt with all cases involving racial issues and that no charges would be dropped without the expert agreement of that group.

He admitted: "There have been some instances where we have dropped the racially aggravated element when there is no evidence to justify the charges."

A spokeswoman for West Yorkshire Police said: "Incidents are recorded as racist if anyone connected with the incident, including the victim, believes that it is racist."

But she said that a charge of "racial aggravation" would only be levelled if there was sufficient evidence to support it.

e-mail: andrew.henden

@bradford.newsquest.co.ukRacist criminals are escaping punishment by the courts because it is difficult to prove that crimes are "racially aggravated", it has been claimed.

Suspects charged by West Yorkshire Police with racist crimes often see their charges reduced to basic offences because the Crown Prosecution Service thinks there is insufficient evidence, a report said.

The claims are aired in the CPS Inspectorate's report on the West Yorkshire service.

It states that some court users it interviewed complained that the CPS was unwilling to prosecute suspects charged with "racially aggravated" offences.

But the report added that the concerns were "not typical of the general perception that racially aggravated offences were appropriately and sensitively handled."

And it stated: "The area places a lot of emphasis on dealing with (racial crimes) firmly but objectively. The area has a standard for dealing with racist offences."

West Yorkshire's Chief Prosecutor said that the comments in the report were "a bit of a misconception".

Neil Franklin said the CPS had a small group of trained specialists who dealt with all cases involving racial issues and that no charges would be dropped without the expert agreement of that group.

He admitted: "There have been some instances where we have dropped the racially aggravated element when there is no evidence to justify the charges."

A spokeswoman for West Yorkshire Police said: "Incidents are recorded as racist if anyone connected with the incident, including the victim, believes that it is racist."

But she said that a charge of "racial aggravation" would only be levelled if there was sufficient evidence to support it.