Scotland's disgraceful new hate crime law has come into force that will undoubtedly restrict free speech and give power to those wih a scores to settle regardless of the merits of their claims. The Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021
creates a new crime of stirring up hatred relating to age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity or being intersex. The maximum penalty is a prison sentence of seven years. A person commits an offence if they communicate
material, or behave in a manner, that a reasonable person would consider to be threatening or abusive, with the intention of stirring up hatred based on the protected characteristics. The bar for this offence is lower than for the other protected
characteristics, as it also includes insulting behaviour, and as the prosecution need only prove that stirring up hatred was likely rather than intended. As well as the offence of stirring up hatred, the Hate Crime Act also consolidates the existing
law on crimes which are aggravated by prejudice. These are where an offender demonstrates malice or ill-will towards their victim based on a protected characteristic, which can be taken into account by a sheriff or judge with a longer sentence or a
higher fine than would otherwise have been the case. This is the first time that age has been included in the list of protected characteristics for aggravated offences, a move welcomed by some campaign groups. Adam Tomkins, professor of public law at
Glasgow University, and a former Conservative MSP, voted against the bill because it could see someone convicted of stirring up hatred for a comment they make in private in their own home, not just in public, and I just don't think that's where the
criminal law belongs. Susan Smith of For Women Scotland fears those who are investigated under the new law will have their lives upended. She told BBC News: The tests are quite woolly and we don't know how people are going to interpret
this. We do anticipate that there will be a lot of malicious complaints, a lot of rather trivial complaints and potentially people who are investigated will see their lives upended. I imagine there will be many complaints, for example, made against JK
Rowling. Ch Supt Rob Hay of the Association of Scottish Police Superintendents (ASPS), which represents senior officers, said there was the potential for a huge uplift in complaints about social media posts. And as is so often the case, the police
have sided with complainers and have pledged to investigate every hate crime complaint it receives. BBC News understands that these will be assessed by a dedicated team within Police Scotland including a number of hate crime advisers to assist
officers in determining what, if any, action to take. | 
