In April 2024, Humza Yousaf’s SNP Government introduced the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021.
The legislation expanded the categories of ‘stirring up hatred’ against groups with protected characteristics, including disability, age, religion, sexual orientation and gender identity.
The Act’s purpose is to consolidate existing hate crime legislation, which had been expanding since 1987.
Yousaf told The Londoners: “The Act is to have in place a legislative safeguard for people based on their protected characteristics, to ensure that people cannot stir up hatred against them for who they are embedded and enshrined within the law.”
The Act caused great controversy in the media, branded an attack on free speech by JK Rowling and Elon Musk, who criticised the inclusion of transgender identity as a ‘protected characteristic’.
University of Glasgow Professor James Chalmers explained: “It was that collision of two different things happening at the same time, the consolidation exercise of the legislation and controversy around gender identity.”
A year on, the Act has helped reporting of hate crime against elderly and disabled people in Scotland and there has been no indication of free speech repression or criminalising opinions expressed on transgender identity.
Yousaf added: “All of the outlandish claims that were made by those who opposed the bill, none of them have materialised.”
April 2024
In the first week of the Act, more than 7,000 reports were made.
It was a surge in hate crime reporting that Deputy Chief Constable Alan Speirs described as: “Vexatious and politically motivated reports that flooded our system in the early weeks.”
Police Scotland received 3000 reports in the first 48 hours alone. The majority from anonymous online reports.
Of the 7,152 reports, only 232 (3%) met the threshold to be recorded as a hate crime.
The Observer reported- neo-Nazi and far-right networks were encouraging supporters to make vexatious complaints, pointing towards this influx in complaints in the first week.
The 74% drop in crimes reported between weeks one and two illustrates the disingenuous nature of the reporting in the first week.
In the second and third week, reports began to align with what met the threshold for a hate crime to be recorded.
The rise of hate crime in Scotland
Hate crime charges in Scotland have increased since the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. The introduction of the Act has been key to target more specific categories and bring justice.
“I think it is a useful tool for us to have in the armoury here in Scotland to combat and tackle hatred” commented Humza Yousaf.
Before the introduction of the Act, the majority of hate crimes were related to race, sexual orientation and disability.
Critics of the Act predicted a rise in hate offences regarding transgender identity, despite transgender hate crime having remained at 1% for the past nine years.
The Act’s impact
There was a 63% increase in hate crimes as 5437 were reported between 1 April and 1 October 2024, following the introduction of the Act.
Although the full year’s data will not be recorded until April 2025, hate crimes towards disability, age and race have comprised many of the cases in this six-month period.
This is consistent with the data from the previous 10 years.
In October 2024, The Guardian reported no hate crime charges for misgendering or affirming biological sex online.
Deputy Chief Constable Speirs said: “We’re not seeing a lot of crime around stirring up hatred on gender-related matters, nor this impinging on an individual’s human right to express their views.”
He described the reaction around how the legislation would relate to gender identity as a “disproportionate focus”.
The Act has not criminalised free speech as many media outlets and celebrities predicted.
A year on
Now almost a year on, claims that the Act would be an attack on Free Speech regarding transgender opinions have not been reflected in recorded hate crime.
Data shows the benefits in the new categories. Making ‘age’ a category has benefited the elderly, with 300 hate crimes reported by October 2024.
The Hate Crime Act was advertised and promoted as legislation which could reassure elderly people to report hatred against them.
Professor Chalmers spoke of the risks of comparing data with previous years, and drawing conclusions from the increase, he said: “It’s really difficult to measure the impact of any legislation like this.
“Legislation tends to warp recording practices, because having a new law publicity attached to something may mean that people are much more likely to come forward.
“When you see spikes like this, it’s very difficult to judge If there is a real change in wrongdoing, or if people are now much more likely to report things that are already happening because they’re aware there’s a route to report them.
“You may be measuring changes in the way people respond to wrongdoing.”
Legacy
How the Act will benefit Scotland long term remains to be seen.
Charges are still being processed.
What is certain is that there has been no data evidence supporting the idea that free speech has been suppressed in Scotland, nor does transgender hate crime make up more of a percentage in Scotland’s hate crime compared to previous years.
Data shows the Act has helped to identify hate crime towards more specific categories such as Disabled and Age-related offences.
“I think it has benefited Scotland, but maybe in less grand ways than people might hope. From a law perspective, it has all the legislation in one place. It’s more accessible and hopefully it’s a bit clearer than what it was before,” concluded Professor Chalmers.
On introducing the Act, Yousaf said: “Passing the Hate Crime and Public Order act is something I am incredibly proud of.
“I hope other countries will look at the legislation we passed here in Scotland and say it is important, given the rising tide of hatred we see across the world, particularly in amongst western countries, we should take action to ensure that we can combat it legally before people continue to be hurt by hatred.”
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