The Act
3.The Act brings together relevant hate crime laws into one place, and updates and extends some of these laws. It has six Parts.
4.Part 1 makes provision relating to the aggravation of offences by prejudice. It provides that a criminal offence is aggravated if either: the offender demonstrates malice and ill-will towards the victim based on the victim’s membership of a group defined by reference to a listed characteristic, or the offence is motivated (wholly or partly) by malice and ill-will towards any such group. The listed characteristics are age, disability, race (and related characteristics), religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity and variations in sex characteristics.
5.Part 2 provides for an offence of racially aggravated harassment. This replicates the effect of the offence of racially-aggravated harassment in section 50A of the Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995, with that offence being separately repealed by the Act.
6.Part 3 creates offences of stirring up hatred against a group of persons based on the group being defined by reference to a relevant characteristic. The relevant characteristics are the same as those listed in Part 1.
7.Part 4 sets out further provision relating to hate crime. It makes provision relating to the interpretation of the characteristics listed in sections 1(2), 4(3) and 9, and provides a power for the Scottish Ministers to make regulations adding the characteristic of sex to any of those lists of characteristics. It also makes provision about the application of the offences under sections 3 and 4 to providers of information society services, and requires the Scottish Ministers to publish annual reports on hate crime convictions and hate crime recorded by the police.
8.Part 5 abolishes the common law offence of blasphemy.
9.Part 6 contains general provisions, including a power for Scottish Ministers to make ancillary provision by regulations.