Prison term for pronouns? Controversies over new Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31261/FPK.2023.05.03

Keywords:

Scotland, United Kingdom, hate speech, freedom of speech, criminalization, women’s rights, misogyny, gender-critical, transgender, non-crime hate incidents

Abstract

On 1st April 2024 a new Hate Speech Act came into force in Scotland. The article is a political-criminal analysis of the Act, taking into account its political and social context. The author explains the concept of hate speech, outlines the main principles of the Act and the objections to it. Next, she analyses the Scottish police’s hate prosecution practices, including the recording of so-called Non-Crime Hate Incidents, the possible chilling effect of the Act and the stigmatisation of those accused of hate crimes. The circumstances of the adoption of the Act indicate that the Act will target specific groups in society. The author seeks to answer the question that arises in the context of the Act as to whether biological fact-finding will be able to be criminalized under the new Scottish Act. Finally, the author analyses the first days of the Act being into force.

Author Biography

Magdalena Grzyb, Jagiellonian University

Doctor of Law (Jagiellonian University, University of Bordeaux), criminologist, assistant professor in the Department of Criminology at the Faculty of Law and Administration of the Jagiellonian University. Her research interests include criminal policy, criminological theories, violence against women and domestic violence. She is the author of more than thirty scientific publications in Polish and English

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Published

2024-09-06

How to Cite

Grzyb, Magdalena. 2024. “Prison Term for Pronouns? Controversies over New Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act”. Forum Polityki Kryminalnej [Forum on Criminal Policy], September, 1-42. https://doi.org/10.31261/FPK.2023.05.03.

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2024: Online First

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