New strand of recordable hate crime

In an interesting development, Greater Manchester Police has announced that its officers are to begin recording whether someone has been a victim of an alternative sub-culture hate crime. The move will typically affect groups such as Punks, Emos and Goths.

It is the first time that such hate crimes will have been recorded by police anywhere in the UK.

According to Assistant Chief Constable Garry Shewan, the lead on hate crime for Greater Manchester Police, the aim is to help to work out the impact that alternative sub-culture hate crime has on its victims and the wider community.

In Scotland, while hate crimes are generally dealt with by the courts as an aggravating factor at sentencing, there are some specific statutory hate crime offences.

These include:

• Offences relating to the incitement of racial hatred, introduced in Part III of the Public Order Act 1986;

• Section 33 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 introduced offences of pursuing a racially-aggravated course of conduct which amounts to harassment of a person and acting in a manner which is racially aggravated and which causes, or is intended to cause, a person alarm or distress;

• Section 96 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 made provision for offences racially aggravated, requiring courts to take such aggravations into account when determining sentence;

• Section 74 of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003 makes provision for offences aggravated by religious prejudice;

• The Offences (Aggravation by Prejudice) (Scotland) Act 2009 provides for statutory aggravations for crimes motivated by malice and ill will towards an individual based on their sexual orientation, transgender identity or disability;

• The Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010 strengthens statutory aggravations for racial and religiously motivated crimes; and

• The Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Act 2012, introduces offences relating to offensive and religious hatred at football.

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