Hate crime strategy

5. Where are we now?

Tackling Prejudice and Building Connected Communities Action Plan

The Tackling Prejudice and Building Connected Communities Action Plan^[8] was published in 2017 in response to recommendations made by Professor Duncan Morrow's Independent Advisory Group on Hate Crime, Prejudice and Community Cohesion.^[9]

We published a report on implementation in December 2021.^[10] The report shows encouraging progress made towards tackling hate crime in Scotland, including progress in a number of key areas, such as in raising awareness of hate crime and encouraging reporting, and ensuring the availability of better and more robust data and evidence on the characteristics of hate crime in Scotland.

Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021

Lord Bracadale led an Independent Review of Hate Crime Legislation in Scotland and his report, published in May 2018, contained 22 recommendations identifying aspects of existing hate crime law where changes would be beneficial for victims, vulnerable groups and wider society.

The 'One Scotland: Hate Has No Home Here consultation^[11] sought views on those recommendations including through public events across Scotland involving communities affected by hate crime, stakeholders representing equality groups and legal bodies.

Following almost a year of scrutiny, the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 ("the Hate Crime Act") received Royal Assent on 23 April 2021.

The Hate Crime Act will modernise, consolidate and extend existing hate crime law in Scotland. It will:

• maintain current legislative protections against offences aggravated by prejudice against disability, race, religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity and variations in sex characteristics;
• introduce new protections against offences aggravated by prejudice towards a person's age;
• provide new 'stirring up of hatred' offences covering all characteristics protected in the updated legislative framework. These will complement the existing offence of stirring up racial hatred that has been part of our criminal law for decades.
• require information about police recorded hate crime and convictions data to be published annually, and with greater detail where known. This provision was included following engagement with BEMIS Scotland and civic society organisations and in response to the 2016 recommendations of the UN Committee on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD).

In order to effectively implement the Hate Crime Act in full, a number of IT change programmes are required across all justice bodies in Scotland. These include:

• updating the data standard used to communicate and record charge aggravator codes across Police Scotland, Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) and the Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service (SCTS);
• the development of Police Scotland's new crime and case management system which will allow more information about hate crime to be recorded. Where recorded by the police, this will provide more detail about the groups targeted and the nature of the prejudice involved, including intersecting characteristics.

This rollout of the new IT systems is due to be completed by December 2023. Therefore, the Hate Crime Act is expected to take effect shortly after this in early 2024.

While legislation alone is not enough to build a safe, inclusive and equal society, it does form a basis for understanding the type of behaviour that is not acceptable in society and is an essential element in our wider approach to tackling hate crime.