Law Commission rejects proposal to make misogyny a hate crime

The UK Law Commission has decided to reject appeals to make misogyny a hate crime following the murder of Sarah Everard, sparking disappointment among women’s rights campaigners. After running a consultation on the matter, the Law Commission concluded classing misogyny as a hate crime would not solve the “real problem” of gender-related prejudice, according to a report by The Guardian.

The Commission argued that any law is unlikely to “provide tangible results in the way that many campaigners have suggested”, and may add ‘complexity’ to rape and domestic abuse cases. Boris Johnson also rejected the notion of misogyny becoming a hate crime in October, saying: “If you simply widen the scope of what you ask the police to do, you’ll just increase the problem.”

20 women’s rights groups responded to the Commission’s decision in a statement, which condemned the review for being “too narrow”. It continued: “By not joining together hate crime legislation, it especially ignores the experiences of women from minority communities who experience hatred based on multiple factors yet all too often are let down by the criminal justice system because they do not fit their tick boxes.”