Award of Reforming The Criminal Law To Address Misogyny - Consultation Analysis

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On 8 March 2023, the Scottish Government launched a 12 week public consultation to seek views on draft legislative provisions which give effect to the recommendation for criminal law reform contained in the final report of the Independent Working Group on Misogyny and Criminal Justice in Scotland, chaired by Baroness Kennedy KC. The consultation closed on 23 June 2023 and has received 248 responses. The consultation paper has been published on the Scottish Government website and respondents have been encouraged to provide their views via the Citizen Space platform. The five new proposed criminal laws being consulted on are: 1. An offence of misogynistic harassment. This would make it a criminal offence for a person to behave in a way that amounts to misogynistic harassment directed at a woman or girl or group of women and girls. 2. An offence of misogynistic behaviour. Intended to deal with misogynistic behaviour which is likely to have the effecting of causing a woman or girl to experience fear, alarm, degradation, humiliation or distress where that behaviour is not directed at a specific woman or girl (or group of women and girls) and so could not be described as ‘harassment’. 3. A statutory aggravation concerning misogyny. This would be used where an offence had a misogynistic motive or a person demonstrates misogyny whilst committing a crime. The statutory aggravation would ensure that this motive is recorded and taken into account when sentencing. 4. An offence of threatening or abusive communications to women or girls that reference rape, sexual assault or disfigurement. This offence criminalises sending an abusive message to a woman or girl that refers to rape, sexual assault or disfigurement 5. An offence of stirring up hatred against women and girls. This offence is concerned with the effect that the behaviour may be likely to have on the people in whom the perpetrator is seeking to stir up hatred of women and girls. This consultation was undertaken with a view to introducing a Bill on misogyny and the criminal law later in this Parliamentary session. The timing of introduction of a final Bill into the Scottish Parliament will be considered as part of wider legislative planning. The aim of the contract is to produce a clear and concise report for publication, which reflects a robust and systematic analysis of responses to the consultation.