Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021

1 Aggravation of offences by prejudice S

(1) An offence is aggravated by prejudice if—

(a) where there is a specific victim of the offence—

(i) at the time of committing the offence, or immediately before or after doing so, the offender demonstrates malice and ill-will towards the victim, and

(ii) the malice and ill-will is based on the victim's membership or presumed membership of a group defined by reference to a characteristic mentioned in subsection (2), or

(b) whether or not there is a specific victim of the offence, the offence is motivated (wholly or partly) by malice and ill-will towards a group of persons based on the group being defined by reference to a characteristic mentioned in subsection (2).

(2) The characteristics are—

(a) age,

(b) disability,

(c) race, colour, nationality (including citizenship), or ethnic or national origins,

(d) religion or, in the case of a social or cultural group, perceived religious affiliation,

(e) sexual orientation,

(f) transgender identity,

(g) variations in sex characteristics.

(3) It is immaterial whether or not the offender's malice and ill-will is also based (to any extent) on any other factor.

(4) Evidence from a single source is sufficient to prove that an offence is aggravated by prejudice.

(5) In this section—

• “membership”, in relation to a group, includes association with members of that group,

• “presumed” means presumed by the offender.

Commencement Information

I1 S. 1 in force at 1.4.2024 by S.S.I. 2024/82, reg. 2 (with reg. 3)