Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill — After Clause 54 — Intimidatory Offences Aggravated by Sex or Gender — 28 Mar 2022 at 19:56

The majority of MPs voted not to create a new offence of harassment aggravated by hostility towards sex or gender but to require the Government to respond, within a year, to a recommendation that "sex or gender should not be added as a protected characteristic for the purposes of aggravated offences and enhanced sentencing".

MPs were considering the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill.^[1][2]

The motion supported by a majority of MPs in this vote was:

• That this House disagrees with the Lords in their amendment 72B and proposes amendments (a) and (b) in lieu.

Lords amendment 72B began:^[4]

• After Clause 54, insert the following new Clause—
• “Intimidatory offences aggravated by sex or gender
• (1) A person must not commit an act—
• (a) which amounts to harassment or intimidation of another,
• (b) which he or she knows or ought to know amounts to harassment or intimidation of the other, and
• (c) which is aggravated by hostility towards sex or gender.
• (2) For the purposes of this section, the person whose act is in question ought to know that it amounts to or involves harassment or intimidation of another if a reasonable person in possession of the same information would think the act amounted to harassment or intimidation of the other.
• (3) Subsection (1) or (2) does not apply to an act if the person who pursued it shows—
• (a) that it was pursued for the purpose of preventing or detecting crime,
• (b) that it was pursued under any enactment or rule of law or to comply with any condition or requirement imposed by any person under any enactment, or
• (c) that in the particular circumstances the conduct was reasonable.
• (4) A person who commits an act in breach of subsection (1) is guilty of an offence.
• ...

The clause continued with details of provisions relating to sentencing, interpretation and the reporting of statistics.

Commons amendments (a) and (b) in lieu stated:^[5]

(a):

• Page 46, line 35, at end insert the following new Clause—
• "Response to Law Commission report on hate crime laws
• (1) The Secretary of State must, before the end of the period of 12 months beginning with the day on which this Act is passed—
• (a) prepare and publish a response to Recommendation 8 of the Law Commission report on hate crime (adding sex or gender as a protected characteristic for the purposes of aggravated offences and enhanced sentencing), and
• (b) lay the response before Parliament.
• (2) In this section “the Law Commission report on hate crime” means the Law Commission report “Hate Crime Laws” that was published on 7 December 2021.”

(b):

• Page 195, line 27, at end insert—
• “(ka) section (Response to Law Commission report on hate crime laws);”

Amendment (b) relates to commencement and provides for the provision in amendment (a) to come into force on the day on which the Act is passed.

Recommendation 8 of the Law Commission report on hate crime stated:^[6]

• We recommend that sex or gender should not be added as a protected characteristic for the purposes of aggravated offences and enhanced sentencing.

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• [1] Parliament's webpage on the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, Parliament.uk
• [3] Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, as introduced on 6 July 2021, Parliament.uk
• [2] Explanatory notes to the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, as introduced on 6 July 2021, Parliament.uk
• [4] Lords amendments to the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, 23 March 2022, Parliament.uk
• [5] Amendment paper for consideration of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, 28 March 2022, Parliament.uk
• [6] The Law Commission report “Hate Crime Laws”, published on 7 December 2021, AmazonAWS.com (linked from the Hate Crime project page on the Law Commission website, Gov.uk)

Debate in Parliament |