In brief: Race prosecutions on increase, says CPS

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) prosecuted 1,324 defendants for committing racially motivated offences in 1997-98, an increase of 10 per cent on the previous year, according to a CPS racial incident monitoring report published last week. The report also reveals that in two thirds of the cases, it was the CPS rather than the police who realised cases had a racial element.