Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021- SSI to add sex as a characteristic: business and regulatory impact assessment

Footnotes

1 https://www.parliament.scot/-/media/files/committees/criminal-justice-committee/correspondence/2025/misogyny-bill-letter-from-cabinet-secretary-jha-2-may-2025.pdf

2 https://www.parliament.scot/-/media/files/legislation/bills/s5-bills/hate-crime-and-public-order-scotland-bill/introduced/financial-memorandum-hate-crime-and-public-order-scotland-bill.pdf

3 Though the characteristic of sex was not included in the Bill at introduction, the financial impact of its inclusion was modelled in view of the fact that the Bill contained a power for the Scottish Ministers to add the characteristic of sex at a later date.

4 Hate Crime in Scotland 2024-25 data tables | COPFS

5 This may be for a combination of reasons – it may be that COPFS conclude that some of the aggravations were wrongly recorded, and/or that there is insufficient evidence to justify libelling the aggravation, and/or that one accused may be charged with several aggravated offences in a single charge.

6 See page 25 and table 13 of Financial Memorandum

7 based on the available information about the number of prosecutions for offences of stirring up racial hatred (less than one a year on average in the ten years to 2022/23) this may, if anything, be an overestimate