New govt campaign on Hate crimes (that exclude sex-based)

[FeminismandWomensFights]

I saw a poster today for this campaign:
hatecrime.campaign.gov.uk

OK, Good poster, I thought, and looked down the list of protected characteristics that hate crimes cover.
Sex was not there.

www.cps.gov.uk/hate-crime

Lawyers, what am I missing?
Why are some protected characteristics less protected than others??
When women are being killed every week due to sex-based domestic violence, why do ‘hate crimes’ not include sex-based hate crime?

www.cps.gov.uk/hate-crime
hatecrime.campaign.gov.uk

As far as I understand it sex wasn't included on the hate crime legislation. it's not the full list of the ea protected characteristics. That's why there has been a campaign to add misogyny. I'm not personally convinced by the whole concept of hate crime and hate incidents as a legal category but the law just picked on a few possible motives for crime. Not a lawyer though.

Wouldn’t they have to admit to what a f-up self id is if they had to look more closely at what TRAs are saying and doing to women in the name of trans rights?

Is it the same campaign as this one?

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3393465-Home-Office-Hate-Crime-Awareness

Willy I think it’s different. This campaign is about telling you that hate crime is an actual offence, I think that campaign was encouraging the reporting of hate crimes.

It feels like a lot of this is probably already illegal already, but it is galling that sex-based crime- a massive national problem- isn’t even on the radar.

I think we’re all meant to pretend misogyny is no longer an issue, and therefore no need for it to be an aggravating factor in a crime.

Either that or we’re meant to be nice and not mention the glaring omission.

Am I right in thinking that for something to be a hate crime, it would have to be a crime even without the involvement of a protected characteristic?

Or are hate crimes things which would not be crimes if perpetrated against, say, a white British woman.

I'm hoping that first something has to be a crime, and then if it's motivated by hostility to a protected characteristic that makes it a hate crime.

Because otherwise "unfriendliness" towards someone who has a protected characteristic is a hate crime, which is murky waters!

Rather than prosecuting hate crimes, the Criminal Justice System has a Violence against Women strategy to prevent, monitor performance and tackle crimes of:

domestic abuse;
forced marriage;
honour-based violence;
female genital mutilation;
rape and sexual offences;
prostitution;
human trafficking;
child abuse; and
pornography

We need to stop clutching pearls because women don't feature in the definition of victims of 'hate crime' because the intention is to make crimes against women the highest priority.

Here's a round up a comprehensive overview of the VAWandG strategy from the Crown Prosecution Service:

www.cps.gov.uk/publication/violence-against-women-and-girls

and here's the overview across government departments

www.gov.uk/government/publications/strategy-to-end-violence-against-women-and-girls-2016-to-2020

The best thing that we can do is to focus on improving the Violence against Women and Girls strategy.

And stop getting hung up on protected characteristics and why females are missing from hate crime legislation (it's because we've got something that has the potential to be better and save lives).

How many women and girls have had fgm and how many prosecutions have there been?

How many women and girls have had fgm and how many prosecutions have there been?

Google is your friend - and while you're there, look up the new legislation; the millions pumped into projects and services in individual councils around the UK; FGM Protection Orders; FGM Mandatory reporting; and the Foreign Aid directed at countries that are the source of cultural FGM.

Looking at crime stats or conviction rates misses the picture of prevention and an environment where the communities that traditionally practice FGM, are being squeezed hard by whistleblowers and informants tipping off the police to intervene.

Theotherpamayres thanks for the stuff on vawg strategy.
Blue skies yes I think you're right. The action has to be a crime in itself. If it's perceived as motivated by prejudice against one of the characteristics it will be recorded as a hate crime for tracking the problem. I've heard that can be taken into account in sentancing. Hopefully there would have to be some evidence for the hateful motivation if it increases the sentance. There is a worrying grey area where hate incidents which are not crimes should also be reported to the police. I don't really understand why. Maybe more tracking the problem?

Can someone help me with this please. When did a hate crime arising out of gender identity rather than gender reassignment or some other definition become a thing? Under what legislation?

Thanks I really appreciate the info and links Pam.

www.prweek.com/article/1498227/m-c-saatchi-unveils-home-office-hate-crime-campaign

The Ad company behind the campaign have been interviewed here: www.prweek.com/article/1498227/m-c-saatchi-unveils-home-office-hate-crime-campaign

The article shows the wording in the IRL poster that I saw: "If you target anyone with verbal, online or physical abuse because of their religion, disability, sexual orientation, transgender identity or race – you may be committing a hate crime."

So yes that is a really good question Procrastinator, given that anyone can at any time and making no outward declaration or outward change to themselves of any kind, decide that they are adopting a trans identity for that moment.... exactly as the government and Stonewall etc have been trying to propose with self ID.

What is the legal basis here then?

What is the legal basis here then?

I can trace it back to 2012 - if you click on this link you will see the additions to s.146 Criminal Justice Act 2003, with footnotes:

www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/44/section/146

The changes were made as part of the coaltion government's Transgender Equality Plan (which civil servants presented to the new LIb Dem minister, without prompting - like a rabbit out of a hat)

And here is CPS guidance on the law, prepared for public consumption:
www.cps.gov.uk/sites/default/files/documents/publications/homophobic-biphobic-transphobic-hate-crime-public-statement-2017.pdf

I am about to look at the role of the National Council for Police Chief Officers in preparing 'guidance' for police officers on, for instance, the treatment of transgender suspects (sometime around 2015/16).

No-one elected them. I suspect that they are responsible for telling police forces to charge suspects by 'gender identity' rather than by sex. If so, they need calling to account.

There was a Law Commission Report in 2014 which said the S146 definition might include transvestites, p 40.

I think the phrase transgender identity is used there even thought the legislation doesn't.
s3-eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/lawcom-prod-storage-11jsxou24uy7q/uploads/2015/03/lc348_hate_crime.pdf
I don't think any legislation has followed from that commission report.
In an overview of hate crime 2013 produced by the ONS they said this
"In 2007, the Police Service, Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), Prison Service (now the National Offender Management Service) and other agencies that make up the criminal justice system agreed a common definition of ‘hate crime’ and five ‘strands’ that would be monitored centrally. Hate crime is defined as ‘any criminal offence which is perceived, by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by a hostility or prejudice towards someone based on a personal characteristic.’ The five monitored strands are:

• race; • religion/faith; • sexual orientation; • disability; and • gender-identity."

A lot of organisations agreeing things without legislation to back it up it seems.

theOtherPam Thanks for these links and the one to the LF interview you gave on the Stonewall thread. Very interesting and worth looking into especially wrt how an inexperienced minister seems to have, perhaps unwittingly, played a part in creating a massive conflict in legislation.

What is the best way to point out all this to government?

I saw the TV advert for this yesterday. It's on ITV player on GMB from Monday, not long after the India Willoughby interview.

It shows a TW (never a TM eh?) on the 'receiving end' of hate crime.

I only watched it briefly, but all I can think of now is all the women who suffer abuse - vs the poor, helpless TRAs with baseball bats, but the Govt don't see that when they fund this or Stonewall.

www.thedrum.com/news/2018/10/31/the-home-office-raises-awareness-hate-crimes-hard-hitting-campaign