1/8 The #HateCrimeBill has been approved by Holyrood. There is still a chance a Judicial Review may find it discriminatory, but for now its passage into law seems assured. So what light might ScotGov’s Equality Impact Assessment on the Bill shed on how it happened?
2/8 Existing ‘hate crime’ statutory aggravations already included: race; religion; disability; sexual orientation & transgender. The EIA says ScotGov accepted all of Lord Bracadale’s recommendations about a new bill, except he said ‘sex’ should be included. It’s not. They didn’t
3/8ScotGov said “Hate Crime legislation... sends a message to victims, perpetrators & wider society that hate crime is not acceptable & will not be tolerated”. It’s just a different message about misogynistic hate crime.
4/8 The EIA says ScotGov “found that none of the proposals are discriminatory...the Bill will have a positive equality impact” The section on sex says only that there is no direct or indirect discrimination under the Equality Act. No consideration of any issues & no explanation.
5/8 91% of responses to the EIA were from individuals but their opinions have been disregarded where they differed from the 4/5 main groups ScotGov fund, consulted with over & over & who agreed with them. Wider organisations had a broader range of opinion - largely ignored.
6/8 One of the favoured groups Engender Scotland, do not consult anyone, not even their own members, but the opinions of their 10 staff & 12 Board members are cited over & over by ScotGov.
7/8 Engender, Rape Crisis & Women’s Aid have not explained how including sex in the HC Bill would have led to ‘a failure to deal effectively with violence against women & girls’ but not have had the same failure in relation to other groups
8/8 The EIA notes that the majority of individuals did not support Hate Crime Laws at all, mostly out of concern for the impact on freedom of expression & the creation of a hierarchy of victims. Hello you 1,000+ people! How does it feel to know your views don’t matter?
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