Mixed reactions to Bracadale hate crime proposals

Equality campaigners have welcomed the publication today of Lord Bracadale’s independent review of hate crime legislation.

The review recommends a single hate crime law covering all protected characteristics, including a new statutory aggravation based on gender hostility and updated terminology covering transgender identity (click here for report).

Tim Hopkins, director of the Equality Network, the Scottish LGBTI equality charity, commented: "We welcome the report, and we hope that the Scottish Government will soon introduce a bill to update the law. We are pleased at the recommendation to update the existing law on hate crimes that target transgender people and those that target intersex people, recognising the difference. And we welcome the proposal for a new offence to deal with the stirring up of hatred through threatening or abusive conduct. This will fill a gap created by the repeal of the non-football related provisions of the Offensive Behaviour at Football Act.

"Changing the law is not the whole answer though; more needs to be done to further improve responses by police, prosecutors and courts, and to encourage people to report crimes to the police."

The Equality Network’s Scottish LGBTI hate crime report 2017 found that 64% of lesbian, gay and bisexual people in Scotland have experienced hate crime. For transgender people the figure is 80%, and for intersex people 77%. Nine out of ten LGBTI people who had experienced hate crime had experienced it more than once, and a third of them, more than ten times. 71% did not report any of these crimes to the police. Of those who did report hate crimes, many were not satisfied with the responses of the criminal justice system.

The organisation has been calling for some years for further review and updating of hate crime law, having supported the current Offences (Aggravation by Prejudice) (Scotland) Act 2009.

For the Scottish Government, Minister for Community Safety Annabelle Ewing said of the report: "I am grateful to Lord Bracadale and his team for completing such a thorough piece of work.

"We agree that Scotland’s hate crime laws should be consolidated into a single piece of legislation. The Scottish Government will use this report as a basis for wider consultation with communities and groups across the country on how to bring forward new legislation that is fit for the 21st century."

The Scottish Government "notes" all other recommendations in the report and ministers will use these as a basis for a public consultation.

Welcoming the review for the Law Society of Scotland, Gillian Mawdsley, solicitor in the policy team, stated: "We support Lord Bracadale’s recommendations for a baseline offence and statutory aggravations. In our consultation response we called for all Scottish hate crime legislation to be consolidated and are pleased that this has been supported in the report.

“We think there are enormous benefits to be gained from having a clear set of rules and procedures. It will bring increased clarity alongside a better understanding and application of the law."

However women’s groups expressed disappointment that there was no recommendation for a gender-based hate and harassment offence.

In a joint statement, Rape Crisis Scotland, Scottish Women’s Aid and Engender said: "The question of how to tackle misogynistic online abuse, sexual harassment in public spaces, and incitement to misogyny is one being raised worldwide.

"Women and girls face epidemic levels of misogynistic hate in schools, in the workplace, on city streets, and online.

"We called for a standalone misogynistic hate crime to be created in Scotland as a way of disrupting this epidemic.

"We think the recommendations put forward in this report do not pay enough attention to international experience and evidence.

"Other nations and states have found that simply adding gender to a laundry-list of groups protected by hate crime legislation leads to underreporting, under-investigation, and under-prosecution."