Establishment of an offence of misogyny as a criminal offence is needed.
The report of the Working Group on Misogyny and Criminal Justice in Scotland, chaired by Baroness Kennedy QC has recommended new leglslation.
"Scotland has been very active on the eradication of Gender Based Violence. Its strategy, ‘Equally Safe’, seeks to tackle all forms of violence against women and girls and involves working with stakeholders to prevent violence from occurring in the first place, as well as committing to strengthening the justice response. Our recommendations will add to the range of legal instruments available for that purpose. While it is not normally the role of advisory panels to recommend the titles of legislation, we do advise the creation of a Misogyny and Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act, as we believe language matters and we wish to focus the minds of those involved in the criminal justice system to create a better understanding of the gendered nature of law.
We propose that this new Misogyny and Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act would:
• Create a new Statutory Misogyny Aggravation which operates outside of the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021;
• Create a new offence of Stirring Up Hatred Against Women and Girls;
• Create a new offence of Public Misogynistic Harassment; and
• Create a new offence of Issuing Threats of, or Invoking, Rape or Sexual Assault or Disfigurement of Women and Girls online and offline."