Okay, here's what I found - overall the picture I got is that the Hate Crimes bill is likely to impact more on young people, as most perpetrators of 'hate crimes' are under 25.
Police Scotland don't support adding an 'age' category as they feel it will disproportionately impact on children/young people, but children/young people do support adding 'age', due to feeling that they are discriminated against because of their age.
- I am not sure what the working definition of 'discrimination' is - presumably something to do with not being allowed to do whatever they want because they're under the age of majority?!
LGBT Youth Scotland were the only body consulted on in every consultation; they certainly have reach.
Notes follow, my comments bolded:
‘[The Bill] makes it clear to victims, perpetrators, and communities and to wider society that offences motivated by prejudice will be treated more seriously and will not be tolerated by society.’
‘A cohesive society is one with a common vision’ – who decides on this common vision?
SG wishes to ‘ensure there is not a perceived (or real) hierarchy between the characteristics.’
‘while the focus of the legislation is on addressing hate crime in today’s society, such as racial and religious hatred, provision is also included to enable the characteristic of sex to be added into the new legislative framework’
‘transgender identity (which includes ‘intersexuality’).’ - this is explained later, terminology to be updated to remove the term ‘intersexuality’ and add a separate category for variations in sex characteristics.
‘The Bill includes a new statutory aggravation for crimes motivated by prejudice based on age.’
‘the Bill also introduces new stirring up hatred offences’
‘evidence on the demographics of convicted perpetrators suggests that they are likely to be young (25 years of age and under).’
‘There is also evidence to suggest that young people under the age of 25 are more likely to be perpetrators of hate crime than any other age group.’
Relevant sections of UNCRC
‘Article 12 (Respect for the views of the child): Every child has a right to express their views and have them given due weight in accordance with their age and maturity ...
Article 14 (Freedom of thought, conscience and religion): Every child has the right to think and believe what they like, and to practise their religion or beliefs publically, as long as they do not harm others in doing so. Governments must respect the right of parents to offer guidance to children where they are deciding what to think and believe.
- If a negative impact is assessed for any area of rights or any group of children and young people, what options have you considered to modify the proposal, or mitigate the impact?
There is evidence to suggest that young people under 25 are more likely to be offenders of hate crime than any other age group. Consequently this may result in some children and young people having a disproportionate level of involvement from public bodies including the police and the judiciary. seems potentially this will criminalise a lot of young people for questionable reasons and unclear societal benefit
Although we are unable to limit the impact of the Bill on children and young people who commit hate crime offences we can mitigate the impact by ensuring children and young people understand the consequences of such behaviour in order to prevent it from occurring in the first place.
‘the Bill also includes freedom of expression provisions in relation to the stirring up of hatred offences based on religion and sexual orientation. This is intended to make it clear that these offences do not interfere unduly with people’s right to, among other things, debate and discuss religion or religious beliefs and practices, to advocate or promote religious beliefs or practices or a change of religion, to urge people to cease practising their religion, or to express their views about whether it is right for people to engage in particular sexual practices.’
On bullying:
‘Girls were more likely than boys to be picked on by being left out of games and chats (30% compared with 24%) whilst boys were more likely than girls to get picked on by shoving, pushing or fighting (17% compared with 24%).’
Mental health – connected often to young carers – I suppose this section was looking for evidence that ‘hate crimes’ impact on mental health, but as far as I could see it ddin’t really go anywhere, perhaps because kids are more impacted by things like poverty and life circumstances?
'Respondents suggested that young people regularly feel discriminated against because of their age.'
'Police Scotland did not support adding the characteristic of age to hate crime legislation because they believe the majority of crimes are in relation to age are more likely to be motivated by vulnerability, or a perceived vulnerability of older people. They also asked ‘for further detailed consideration of how a new statutory aggravation on age hostility might be introduced without generating unintended negative consequences on children.’
'younger people, in particular, welcomed the addition of a statutory aggravation for age.'
‘They were also supportive of developing a statutory aggravation for gender hostility. There was a strong feeling that any new legislation should be inclusive for both men and women and therefore there should not be a standalone offence for misogyny.’
‘They were supportive of the extension of the stirring up of hatred offences for all protected characteristics and agreed that the terms used in Scottish hate crime legislation in relation to transgender identity and intersex should be updated.’
- Have you consulted with relevant stakeholders?
The following youth organisations responded to the consultation paper for Lord Bracadale’s, Independent Review of Hate Crime Legislation in Scotland[31]:
• Commissioner for Children and Young People;
• Equalities and Human Rights committee of the Scottish Parliament (EHRiC) and the Equalities and Human Rights committee of the Scottish Youth Parliament (EQU);
• LGBT Youth;
• Young Scot;
• Youth Parliament
• YouthLink Scotland
The following youth organisations responded to the consultation paper for, One Scotland: Hate Has No Home Here[32]:
• Children in Scotland;
• LGBT Youth Scotland;
• Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration;
• Together (Scottish Alliance for Children’s Rights);
• YouthLink Scotland;
• Youth Community Support Agency YCSA
The following youth organisations attended the 2018 summer engagement events:
• LGBT Youth Scotland
• YouthLink
• Children's Parliament
The following youth organisations attended the YouthLink Scotland consultation events:
• Edinburgh Interfaith Association
• LGBT Youth Scotland
• Hope for Autism
• Youth Community Support Agency (YCSA)
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3377446-Tell-me-about-LGBT-Youth-Scotland
The Bill seeks to consolidate, modernise and extend existing hate crime legislation by:
• adding age as a new characteristic;
• the conferral of an enabling power to allow additional characteristics to be added by regulations in the future, which could be used to add a gender/sex characteristic;
• updating the definition of transgender identity, including removing the term ‘intersexuality’ and creating a separate category for variations in sex characteristics;
• providing new stirring up hatred offences that will apply to all characteristics in the Bill (currently these offences only relate to race);