News In Focus
7 November 2007
Hate crime bill passes first hurdle
A bill to strengthen the law against hate crimes passed its first parliamentary hurdle yesterday.
The Green Party's Patrick Harvie can now proceed with his proposals that would make attacking someone because of their sexual orientation or their disability an aggravating factor. This would put such assaults on the same legal footing as racist and religiously aggravated attacks.
Holyrood's Equal Opportunities Committee yesterday decided that the Sentencing of Offences Aggravated by Prejudice Bill did not require any further public consultation.
A survey in 2004 found that 47% of disabled people had experienced hate crime because of their disability and research carried out into attacks against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in 2002 found that 68% had been verbally abused, while 23% had been physically assaulted.
Mr Harvie's bill is backed by the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland and the Gay Police Association.