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Britain to Treat Internet Hate Crime as Seriously as Offline Offenses

by Reuters

   Online abuse will be treated as seriously as offline offences,
   Britain's prosecution service said on Monday in new guidance on
   handling hate crimes.

   The rules - which included guidelines on helping disabled and bisexual
   victims - were meant to encourage more people to come forward and press
   courts to impose longer sentences, the Crown Prosecution Service said.

   "This is a crime that's under-reported. Sometimes people feel that they
   just have to put up with it ... That's absolutely not the case," Alison
   Saunders, the director of public prosecutions, told the BBC.

   The new advice was in response to the growth of social media, the CPS
   said. There have been several high-profile instances of successful
   prosecutions of people who had abused lawmakers and other public
   figures online.