Since Scotland’s government passed hate crime laws, law enforcement personnel in the country have been overwhelmed with thousands of reports, outnumbering real crimes.
The Telegraph reported that just one week after the laws were enacted, Scottish police were met with 8,000 complaints, which they said they had trouble coping with.
Such an increase is attributed to the law’s criminalization of “stirring up hatred,” including an offensive statement to an offensive public play or other performance, according to The New American.
The Guardian, which is a left-leaning newspaper, blamed “neo-Nazis and far-right agitators” for encouraging most of the complaints.
Scotland’s new laws were enacted on April 1, 2024, known as April Fools’ Day. The bill’s explainer pointed out that Section Three of the law “creates an offence of stirring up racial hatred.”
FREE SPEECH: "The principle of freedom of speech is the key one because without that we don't have any freedom" @alanvibe
Scotland's new hate crime law could lead to a fine and a prison sentence
We must have the freedom to discuss and challenge ideas#HateCrimeActScotland pic.twitter.com/fd9RZgfOWn
— Together (@Togetherdec) April 9, 2024
The law states that those who behave in a threatening or insulting manner will be charged with an offense to intentionally “stir up hatred against a group of persons based on the group being defined by reference to race, colour, nationality, (including citizenship), or ethnic or national origins, or where it is likely a consequence that hatred will be stirred up against such a group.”
Scotland’s hate crime law also bars “offensive material” not just “through websites, blogs, podcasts, social media etc., either directly, or by forwarding or repeating material that originates from a third party; through printed media such as magazine publications or leaflets,” but also by “online streaming, by email, playing a video, through public performance of a play, etc.”
Since the law’s enactment, Scotland police have fielded 8,000 hate crime reports. This figure is set to “surpass the entire annual total of 416,000 crimes reported to police.”
A high-ranking police union official in the country, David Threadgold, told the BBC that law enforcement “cannot cope” with the massive increase.
“Officers have been brought back in to do overtime shifts and the management of that is simply unsustainable,” Threadgold told the outlet, adding that the public has “weaponized” the law to retaliate whether politically or personally.
The Guardian pointed the finger at right-leaning individuals in Scotland and “neo-Nazis,” reporting that “a prominent figure in England’s white nationalist movement is among those urging followers to spam Police Scotland with anonymous online reports.”
