The Law Commision are currently consulting on reforms to hate crime laws.
See full details and hate your say at: https://www.lawcom.gov.uk/project/hate-crime/
Hate Crime
Reforms to hate crime laws to make them fairer, and to protect women for the first time.
(Please note that a Welsh translation and an Easy Read version of the Summary Paper are currently being finalised and will be uploaded in the coming days.)
The Problem
Hate crimes are acts of violence or hostility directed at people because of who they are. Hate crime laws in England and Wales have developed in various phases over the past two decades, and the law currently recognises five protected characteristics:
race
religion
sexual orientation
disability
transgender status.
But the criminal law does not treat all of those protected characteristics equally. This means that someone who is assaulted based on disability is not afforded the same protection as someone who is assaulted because of their race.
Other major concerns include:
The complexity and lack of clarity in the current laws which can make them hard to understand.
Concerns about the particular challenges in prosecuting disability hate crimes
There have also been calls for hate crime laws to be expanded to include new protected characteristics to tackle hatred such as misogyny and ageism, and hostility towards other groups such as homeless people, sex workers, people who hold non-religious philosophical beliefs (for example, humanists) and alternative subcultures (for example goths or punks).
The Consultation
In our consultation paper, launched on 23 September 2020, we have made a number of proposals for reform of hate crime laws. These include:
Equalising protection across all of the existing protected characteristics. This would involve extending the application of aggravated offences, stirring up hatred offences, and potentially football chanting offences to those characteristics that are not already covered
Adding sex or gender to the protected characteristics.
Establishing criteria for deciding whether any additional characteristics should be recognised in hate crime laws, and consulting further on a range of other characteristics, notably “age”.
Reformulating the offences of stirring up hatred to focus on deliberate incitement of hatred, providing greater protection for freedom of speech where no intent to incite hatred can be proven.
Expanding the offence of racist chanting at football matches to cover homophobic chanting, and other forms of behaviour, such as gestures and throwing missiles at players.
Responding to the consultation
We invite consultees to submit their views on reforms to hate crime laws
Detailed and specific questions can be found in the consultation paper itself and can be responded to using this online questionnaire. There are also broad consultation questions in the summary. These can be responded to using this online questionnaire.
Consultees are invited to respond to as many or as few questions as they wish, whether the broad questions found in the summary or the more detailed questions in the consultation paper itself.
Where possible, it would be helpful if these online survey tools were used. Alternatively, comments may be sent:
by email to crime@lawcommission.gov.uk
by post to Hate Crime Team, Law Commission, 1st Floor, 52 Queen Anne’s Gate, London, SW1H 9AG.
(If you send your comments by post, it would be helpful if, whenever possible, you could also send them electronically.)
The terms of reference for the review To review the adequacy and parity of protection offered by the law relating to hate crime and to make recommendations for its reform.
It includes:
Reviewing the current range of specific offences and aggravating factors in sentencing, and making recommendations on the most appropriate models to ensure that the criminal law provides consistent and effective protection from conduct motivated by hatred of protected groups or characteristics.
Reviewing the existing range of protected characteristics, identifying gaps in the scope of the protection currently offered and making recommendations to promote a consistent approach.
In particular:
To consider developments in the law since the publication of the Law Commission report “Hate Crime: should the current offences be extended” in 2014;
To consider whether crimes motivated by, or demonstrating, hatred based on sex and gender characteristics, or hatred of older people or other potential protected characteristics should be hate crimes, with reference to underlying principle and the practical implications of changing the law;
To consider the specific statutory incitement of hatred offences under the Public Order Act 1986 and to make recommendations on whether they should be extended or reformed;
To consider the impact of changing the law relating to hate crime on other aspects of criminal justice, including other offences and sentencing practice;
To ensure that any recommendations comply with, and are conceptually informed by, human rights obligations, including under articles 10 (freedom of expression) and 14 (prohibition of discrimination) of the European Convention on Human Rights;
Consideration of the implications of any recommendations for other areas of law including the Equality Act 2010.
Previous Publications
Background information for the project is set out in our information paper.
A Welsh version of the information paper can be found here.
An easy-read version of the information paper can be found here.
Our earlier work “Hate Crime: Should the Current Offences be Extended” can be found here.
Contact
Contact us here: hate.crime@lawcommission.gov.uk
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