Various questions on gender identity and hate crime

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.23.029291

I note you seek access to the following information:

The following questions are intended to examine the impact of the recent Law Commission report on Hate Crime, published 2021, on the way police forces record and report on crime.

As you will be aware, crimes aggravated by hostility based on sex are not currently
treated as hate crimes under the criminal law.

Some police forces have, however, trialled recording crimes aggravated by hostility towards sex and gender, and in particular misogynistic crime. The Law Commission report, however, argued that sex and gender should not be added as protected characteristics for the purposes of aggravated offences and enhanced sentencing.

As such, please could you answer the following:

1. Do you keep a record of crimes aggravated by hostility towards sex or gender that are reported to (or discovered by) your force?
NB. Please note the reference to gender concerns cisgender identity, as crimes aggravated by hostility towards transgender identity are already captured under S.66(1) Sentencing Act 2020. References to gender in the below questions should also be read as references to cisgender identity.

2. If not:
a. Have you ever done?
b. Are there plans to do so in future?

3. Has the Law Commission’s 2021 report affected whether you collect this information? If so, how?

4. If Yes to question 1, please state:
a. The number of crimes and incidents that were logged on your system as aggravated by hostility towards sex or gender in 2020, 2021 and 2022 (please give two separate figures for each year- crimes and incidents)
b. For those recorded as crimes, please give the nature of these offences (broken down by year and into crime categories, as defined by your force)
c. Please also give the number of crimes logged that led to a:
(i) Caution
(ii) Criminal prosecution
(iii) Conviction
(Please give separate figures for each year.

Decision

I have today decided to disclose the located information to you.

Please find below information pursuant to your request above.

These searches successfully located some of the information relevant to your request. This notice is to inform you that the MPS will disclose the answers to questions 1-3 below.

In relation to question 4, the question cannot be answered based on the response to question 1.

Q1 - Do you keep a record of crimes aggravated by hostility towards sex or gender that are reported to (or discovered by) your force? NB. Please note the reference to gender concerns cisgender identity, as crimes aggravated by hostility towards transgender identity are already captured under S.66(1) Sentencing Act 2020. References to gender in the below questions should also be read as references to cisgender identity.

No, the MPS does not currently record these as a hate crime.

Q2 - If not: Have you ever done?

No

Q2a - Are there plans to do so in future?

The Met is aware of the need to further assess the calls for misogyny as a hate crime, not just within London but nationally. The Met remains closely engaged with UK policing nationally and awaits any further confirmation through the Home Office, the UK Government and any recommendations from the Law Commission, as to what the expectations of policing will be. In the meantime, we are aware that national work is taking place seeking to learn lessons from forces which are already recording gender based crimes as hate crime.

Q3 - Has the Law Commission’s 2021 report affected whether you collect this information? If so, how?

No, the MPS are committed to tackling all Violence against Women and Girls, whatever the motivation behind it may be. We will continue to liaise with the National Police Chief’s Council regarding any further changes that are required.

Q4 - If Yes to question 1, please state: The number of crimes and incidents that were logged on your system as aggravated by hostility towards sex or gender in 2020, 2021 and 2022 (please give two separate figures for each year- crimes and incidents)

N/A due to the answer given in question 1

Q4a - The number of crimes and incidents that were logged on your system as aggravated by hostility towards sex or gender in 2020, 2021 and 2022 (please give two separate figures for each year- crimes and incidents)
b - For those recorded as crimes, please give the nature of these offences (broken down by year and into crime categories, as defined by your force)
c - Please also give the number of crimes logged that led to a:
(i) - Caution
(ii) - Criminal prosecution
(iii) - Conviction

N/A due to the answer given in question 1

DUTY TO ADVISE AND ASSIST
The MPS has a duty to provide reasonable advice and assistance to applicants making a request, this is clearly set out in Section 16 of the Act. We were unable to answer questions 4 and 5 based on the answer to question 1, but we do supply hate crime data on the Stats and data section on our website. I have provided the following link, but you also may want to undertake some searches in addition to this link:
Monthly Crime Data