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Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021

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This is the original version (as it was originally enacted).

1Aggravation of offences by prejudice

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(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.

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