Scottish Hate Crime Bill - information and resources.

Wings over Scotland, political commenter, is shutting down his website and social media.

Whether or not you agree with his views, this is bad news for plurality of media and a perfect example of the chilling effect in action.

I'm sure the SNP will be delighted .

'Scotland is no longer a country where free speech is permitted, and even not living there may not afford much in the way of protection'

https://wingsoverscotland.com/the-eve-of-war/

Great article from K Stock, thanks for the share.

'...in Scotland crazily myopic and illiberal measures continue to be waved through, with stunning condescension on the part of their smug originators. In other words, there’s no use appealing to what some hypothetical reasonable person would think, when there appear to be no such people in the vicinity.'

An article from I presume a right-wing angle, criticising the Conservatives lack of vision. Interesting because it may reveal some of the problems of parties collapsing into a vague mush of centrism - we may gain consensus but lose the benefits of having a healthy opposition to challenge assertions.

I note the Scottish Tory leader in Holyrood yesterday agreed that there should be no tolerance of 'hate', which really leaves you no place to go when attempting to argue for freedom of speech. 'Say whatever you like so long as nobody is upset by it' is acceding to authoritarianism.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/03/25/yousafs-tory-free-scotland-is-no-longer-free/

https://news.sky.com/story/scotlands-new-hate-crime-law-could-be-used-to-settle-scores-say-critics-13102889

'Police Scotland refused to be questioned by Sky News on camera about the new law.
A statement from a spokesman said: "Our training package has been developed in close consultation with diversity staff associations to ensure all protected characteristics under the new Act are clearly represented and articulated, and that officers are best prepared when they respond to hate crimes and incidents.'

😶

Humza Yousaf discussed Hate Crime Act and NCHIs today.

https://www.scottishparliament.tv/meeting/first-ministers-questions-march-28-2024?clip_start=12:00:17&clip_end=12:13:08

Joanna Cherry has offered her expertise and input. I hope PS take them up on this offer.

'I’m keen to support & participate in this excellent initiative. Action by Police Scotland in relation to the new Hate Crime Act raises issues under the Human Rights & Equality Acts & I would be keen to contribute based on my experience as lawyer & lawmaker.'

https://twitter.com/joannaccherry/status/1773310460445507918

Tess White MSP:

'I have offered to host an urgent roundtable with Police Scotland and women's groups. It's vital we discuss how to protect women's rights to freedom of association and expression with the Hate Crime Act coming into force. My letter to the Chief Constable'

https://twitter.com/TessWhite4NE/status/1773295186061185360

A protest against the HCA is planned for 1st of April at 1.30, Holyrood.

https://wingsoverscotland.com/the-great-genocide/

A report the reasoning behind including trans people and excluding women from the HCA:

'We already know that worldwide, trans people are the safest recorded demographic on the face of the planet. So perhaps it’s a problem exclusive to Scotland? We decided to do some research and see if we could find a pattern of hate crimes being committed against transgender people since the Bill was introduced almost four years ago.'
'The total number of hate crimes (that is, actual crimes of which someone was convicted, not just Non-Crime Hate Incidents where someone claimed to have had their feelings hurt) we’ve been able to discover in that period is… zero.We found rather a lot of crimes committed BY transgender people, including extremely serious and infamous cases like the “Isla Bryson” rapes and the kidnap and sexual assault of an 11-year-old girl by Andrew “Amy George” Miller.
But as yet we haven’t been able to turn up a SINGLE case of a trans person being the VICTIM of a crime in Scotland in those four years, let alone one where being trans was the cause of their being targeted.'Going back a bit further, Wings has found two cases of assault recorded against trans people, of which more detail in the article. 'Not a single transgender person is ever recorded as having been murdered in Scotland in all of the nation’s history, while around 15 women a year are. Women are excluded from the protected categories in the Hate Crime Bill.And yet in a few days’ time, simply reporting these facts together runs the risk of being a hate crime in itself, if someone deems that doing so might contribute to “stirring up hatred” of trans people rather than (or even as an unintended side-effect of – the law does not require intent) journalistic inquiry into the comments of MSPs.'

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/7d611362-d8dc-4f9c-ae99-1c643a4f1868?shareToken=a1605a1a3085cf09dd8ca4e41817a83a

'These categories are more extensive than those included in legislation in place in England and Wales. Expressions of antipathy, dislike, ridicule or insult all fall within the legislation’s remit.'

Raises a good point, though.

https://www.scotland.police.uk/about-us/how-we-do-it/complaints/what-is-a-complaint/

'You can complain to Police Scotland about our action or lack of action, or about the standard of service provided by us.
Complaints can be made about individuals who work for Police Scotland, including serving officers, members of police staff, contractors and volunteers or the quality of service provided by Police Scotland as an organisation.
If your complaint is about the police as an organisation you need to have been adversely affected or dissatisfied about the issue you're complaining about.
If your complaint is about a person who works for the police, you need to have either witnessed their actions or have been adversely affected or be dissatisfied with them.
For example, you can't make a complaint about a video you've seen on a mobile phone or social media involving people you don't know or an event you didn't attend if it did not adversely affect you.
If you are not sure if you have grounds for a complaint, please contact us so that we can discuss the circumstances with you.

How to make a complaintHow to complain to us:

• Use our online Complaint Capture Form
• Write to us at: Professional Standards Department, PO Box 2460, Police Scotland Dalmarnock, Glasgow, G40 9BA
• Call 101
• Visit your local police station.

So anyone adversely affected and targeted by Hate Crime Act can presumably complain to the police about it. I wonder if we can complain on the basis of the chilling effect and/or the impinging on freedom of speech.

That's an excellent letter.

For what it's worth, Polis, the fear isn't so much that you will be targetting people, it's that you will be FORCED to target people; the police will be weaponised by bad actors to harass certain groups of people, not least because PS have committed to investigate every report.

'In a bombshell letter to Holyrood’s criminal justice committee, Chief Superintendent Rob Hay, president of the ASPS, said: ‘There is certainly enough anger and hateful bile online to occupy every police officer in Scotland.
‘The extent to which society will tolerate or expect the police to be drawn into adjudicating ill-tempered, abusive spats online is a matter for wider debate.’
Mr Hay added: ‘We have a concern that individuals who could be described as the “activist fringe” of particular viewpoints… will seek to “weaponise” the new legislation and associated police investigation.’'

https://www.economist.com/britain/2024/03/27/a-new-hate-crime-law-in-scotland-causes-widespread-concern

'James Chalmers, a legal scholar at the University of Glasgow. “The new law does not change things as much as some people think. It provides a more accurate label for prosecuting serious cases of hatred.” But he concedes that “if people believe that the criminal law has been broadened, you may see more reports to the police.”

Much, then, may depend on how police deal with those reports. Despite the delay in implementing the law, officers in Scotland have received only a two-hour online training session ahead of its introduction. David Kennedy, the general secretary of the main police union, says the training is “not fit for purpose”, and believes the attempt to legislate hate crime is “a recipe for disaster”. “Police officers are saying to me, ‘We’ll just have to charge everyone’.”

Some critics flag the potentially malign influence of lobby groups. “All the groups who think that we are hateful have been deeply involved in training the police,” says Lucy Hunter Blackburn of mbm, a policy-analysis group that has questioned government policies on gender in particular.'

https://archive.is/ugWDM

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/03/26/police-scotland-parody-jk-rowling-open-letter-harry-potter/

'Police officers who invented a trans-hating “parody” of JK Rowling must be stripped of any role in enforcing new hate crime laws, more than 200 women have said.
In an open letter, female signatories expressed “disgust” that a fictional character called “Jo”, alleged to be modelled on the <a class="break-all" href="https://archive.is/o/LhNrK/www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/03/22/jk-rowling-police-scotland-gender-trans/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Harry Potter writer who called for trans people to be sent to gas chambers, had been created by serving Police Scotland officers.
They said the revelation had left their confidence in police to fairly enforce hate crime legislation at “rock bottom” and claimed the narrative created reinforced offensive “tropes” that gender critical women were comparable to Nazis.
At an official police “youth engagement” hate crime event last month, attendees were presented with a “scenario” in which Jo, an “online influencer” with a large social media following, is “passionate” about her beliefs such as there being only two genders.

The story escalates with “Jo” stating that trans people “all belong in the gas chambers”. Attendees were then asked to consider whether “Jo” had committed a hate crime.
The letter, signed by high-profile political figures, academics and gender-critical campaigners, said the story reinforced offensive claims about women who believe biological sex should take precedence over self-declared gender identity.
Such women are often compared by trans rights activists to racists while they also regularly face unfounded accusations of having links to the far-Right.
In a letter, the women said the “Jo” character had clearly been “a thinly veiled parody of the author <a class="break-all" href="https://archive.is/o/LhNrK/www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/01/16/jk-rowling-nastiest-novelist-row-trans-activists/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">JK Rowling, who in recent years has championed the sex-based rights of women and girls”.
“We write to you to express our disgust that public servants, not least those charged with enforcing the new offences created by the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021, were responsible for this material,” the women’s letter, to Jo Farrell, the chief constable, stated.

“It plays into long-standing, offensive tropes that women who are concerned about the erosion of their sex-based rights are akin to Nazis.”'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13242823/Orwellian-Police-Scotland-blacklist-hate-incidents-threatens-peoples-job-prospects-information-handed-potential-employers.html

'A secret police catalogue of 'hate incidents' could destroy job prospects as the information can be disclosed to potential employers, it was warned yesterday.
People trying to get jobs working with children or vulnerable adults could find a non-crime hate incident (NCHI) being disclosed to a prospective employer without knowing it even exists.
Disclosure Scotland is responsible for sharing information about people's criminal records so employers can decide if the applicant is suitable for the job.'