The final new petition for consideration today is PE1728, on making false allegations a hate crime, which was also lodged by Frances Nixon. The petition calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to consider legislation to ensure that false allegations are considered as a hate crime and are dealt with as such in law. Our paper on the petition provides a recent definition of hate crime in Scotland, which is that it is offences
“which adhere to the principle that crimes motivated by hatred or prejudice towards particular features of the victim’s identity should be treated differently from ordinary crimes”.
Under that definition, a false accusation of criminal behaviour could amount to a hate crime if it is motivated as described.
The paper goes on to explain protected characteristics that would fall under the protection of hate crime legislation, which include race, religion, disability, sexual orientation and transgender identity. Current criminal offences relating to false allegations of criminal behaviour include false reporting, false accusation, perjury and defamation.
In recent correspondence with the clerks, the petitioner explains that this petition and her previous petition, PE1727, are a direct result of what she has endured. The petitioner indicates that she wants to turn a negative experience into a positive one by raising her concerns to the attention of Parliament, Police Scotland and the public in order to “inform, provoke thought” and
“change minds and certain aspects of Scottish Law.”
Do members have any comments or suggestions for action?