Whenever the Scottish Parliament passes a bill, it is used by unionist parties and their media as a signal for anti-Scottish Government propaganda. We saw this with the GRR and DRS bills, and the same happened with Hate Crime. So what are the facts?

The Scottish Hate Crime law

“Hate crime” is the phrase used to describe behaviour which is both criminal and based on prejudice.  It recognises the particular impact and harm caused by hate to the victim, the group to which the victim belongs and to wider society.

Laws were already in place to protect certain groups from hate crime – e.g. those characterised by race[1].  With the introduction of the new Scottish Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill[2] these protected groups are characterised by age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity and variations in sex characteristics sometimes known as being intersex.

The new bill creates a new crime of stirring up hatred against any of the protected groups covered.  But this doesn’t mean that people cannot express what they think about these groups – e.g. in social media or comedy acts.  It simply means that if, for example, someone assaults a person because they are Muslim, then this is a criminal office aggravated by hateful prejudice.

Another example might be daubing a church with graffiti that targets the members of that church – here vandalism is the crime that is being aggravated.  Whatever the hate crime, the underlying crime that is aggravated by hate must still be proven – just as it always has[3]. 

Regarding “stirring up hatred” – this means something is done with the intention of stirring up hatred against the proscribed groups.  If the intention isn’t to stir up hatred (e.g. in a comedy act), it doesn’t fall within this law.

The Scottish Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill came into law on 1-Apr-2024.

Other Countries

Scotland is not unusual in its approach to hate crime – in fact the latest bill simply brings it into line with England and a number of other European countries.

In England a number of laws have been passed to progressively strengthen hate crime[4].  Similarly other countries have adopted approaches to hate crime in line with their own legal histories[5].

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Sources

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Order_Act_1986

[2] https://www.parliament.scot/bills-and-laws/bills/hate-crime-and-public-order-scotland-bill

[3] https://www.parliament.scot/-/media/files/legislation/bills/s5-bills/hate-crime-and-public-order-scotland-bill/introduced/explanatory-notes-hate-crime-and-public-order-scotland-bill.pdf

[4] https://www.cps.gov.uk/crime-info/hate-crime

[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hate_speech_laws_by_country