Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill

Debate between Lord Polak and Baroness Newlove

Lords Hansard - Part 2 & Committee stage
Monday 15th November 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Newlove (Con)]

My Lords, the murders of Sarah Everard, Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman earlier this year shocked the entire country, and rightly so. Yet we know that these cases are not an exception. In the seven months after Sarah Everard’s death, another 81 women were killed, and countless more were subjected to sexual violence, abuse and harassment.

We repeatedly hear from the police that women do not come forward to report crimes—yet the evidence shows that they are right to be concerned that the violence and abuse they face often do not result in criminal sanction. A UN Women UK survey in January 2021 showed that 80% of women of all ages said that they had experienced sexual harassment in public spaces. Some 96% of respondents did not report this, with 45% saying that it would not change anything. In March this year, HOPE not hate published figures showing that 85,000 women are raped each year, but only 1.4% of rape cases in England and Wales that had been recorded by the police ended with the suspect being charged. This is the lowest figure ever recorded. We know from the Office for National Statistics that more than 2 million crimes against women have gone unreported since 2018.

Today I am proposing Amendment 219 so we can learn from police best practice in tackling this epidemic of violence and restore confidence that the police get the seriousness and scale of the problem. In 2016, Nottinghamshire Police, under the leadership of Sue Fish, became the first police force in the country where women and girls could report a case of abuse and harassment and have it treated as what it is: a hate crime. Over 11 police forces follow this approach, including north Yorkshire, Avon and Somerset and Northamptonshire.

I want to take on some of the myths. First, Amendment 219 does not create any new offences. It is about recognising the causes of existing offences and how serious this is for society. Secondly, this is not about catcalling; street harassment is already illegal. We rightly do not accept casual racism in our streets. Why should we accept those who try to intimidate or exercise power over women by screaming abuse at them? Talking about this as being about wolf whistling minimises the experiences women have. In Nottingham, women came forward to report stalking, groping, indecent assault and kidnapping, knowing police would take these matters seriously and see how women have been targeted. Independent research showed that this improved victims’ confidence to come forward and changed the culture in the police towards understanding the causes of violence against women. Reporting crimes increased by a quarter, giving police the crucial information they needed to identify repeat offenders. We know that many offenders graduate from apparently minor offences, such as harassment, to more serious ones. This policy helps the detection and prevention of these crimes by repeat offenders.

Thirdly, this is not just about data; it is about how we treat violence against women and girls. We rightly recognise that crimes motivated by racism or homophobia are especially serious and that those who commit them should face harsher sentences. When we do not extend equal treatment to those who target women simply for who they are, it is little wonder that many women do not feel the police take seriously the violence and abuse they face. The Government agreed earlier this year to ensure that all police forces do this, and we await implementation. Yet, as the hate crime co-ordinator in north Yorkshire told us, without the courts following this up through their sentencing, the impact of this policy is limited.

Amendment 219 would ensure that our courts reflect this hostility in determining the sentence someone receives. It uses the same logic as other forms of hate crime, such as religion, race or sexual orientation. It would insert “sex or gender” into Section 66 of the Sentencing Act. I know some colleagues will ask about this wording. First, it ensures that crimes motivated by hatred towards either men or women for being men or women would be recognised as such, but make no mistake, the evidence shows that women are overwhelmingly the victims. In Nottinghamshire and Avon and Somerset, 90% of victims reporting were women. In Devon, it was 80%.

Secondly, this means our focus is on the perpetrator and not the victim. Currently the CPS says a hate crime is:

“Any criminal offence which is perceived by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by hostility or prejudice”.


Perception matters in hate crime. Whether someone is born a woman or becomes one, if they are targeted for being a woman, then being able to record that motivation will help tackle the cause and find those responsible for the harm. To try to exclude some women from this or set out different criteria for this particular type of hate crime is to give perpetrators a free pass. It risks valuable information about offending patterns being missed and potentially gives perpetrators a chance to further demean a victim by claiming they cannot experience misogyny because they are trans.

We already recognise that someone can be a victim of more than one type of hate crime, expect if the part of their identity being targeted is their being a woman. This is about respecting the victim and how they feel that they have been targeted, rather than demanding that they fit a specific tick-box. Muslim women may be victims of hate crime because they are Muslim and because they are women. Some 42% of black and ethnic minority women aged between 14 and 21 report experiencing unwanted sexual attraction and attention at least once a month. Many women and girls with intellectual disabilities also experience abuse for the dual reasons of their disability and their sex or gender.

The Government previously defined gender as part of the Gender Recognition Act reform consultation. Again, the CPS notes:

“There is no legal definition of hostility so we use the everyday understanding of the word”.


With any hate crime, the police and the CPS gather evidence and present it to the courts for them to decide whether it meets that everyday understanding. This amendment would require them to present evidence about the perpetrator because what matters here is holding the perpetrator to account, not debating the status of the victim. I do not want to be too presumptuous but, when my noble friend the Minister responds, she may say that she will wait until the Law Commission review of hate crime is completed. That is why this is more of a probing amendment. The review has been ongoing since 2018 and, in its draft recommendations, supported this proposal. Should it publish its final report, we could be informed by its work on Report. However, if it does not, this amendment would mean that we would not lose the opportunity the Bill offers to help tackle violence against women.

Indeed, a Law Commission review is no guarantee of action being taken. Since 2010, more than half its reviews have never made it on to the statute book, with many never even receiving a response from the Government. This includes the 2014 review of hate crime legislation, which is still awaiting a ministerial response. Even if the commission’s current review is published shortly, as promised, we may have to wait a year for the Government’s response, which could require further consultation. We would then have to wait for another legislative opportunity to be given parliamentary time for a new Bill to go through its various stages.

Women have been waiting my whole lifetime for action to be taken on these matters. There have already been 3 million more crimes committed against women since the Law Commission was asked to review the law in this area. Every year, we delay closing this gap in our hate crime laws. I understand why more women question whether the Government are serious about keeping them safe. The evidence shows that this policy is not a silver bullet for the problems with policing and the courts, but it is progress and best practice. The time for waiting is over; now is the time for doing. The women and girls of this country deserve nothing less. I beg to move.

[Lord Polak (Con)]

My Lords, I am pleased to join my noble friend Lady Newlove and the noble Lords, Lord Ponsonby and Lord Russell, in proposing this simple but effective amendment, which would ensure individual protection against hostile aggravations and offences based on sex or gender.

The noble and learned Lord, Lord Judge, a former Lord Chief Justice, explained that adding sex or gender to the list is consistent with the statutory provisions in the Equality Act. If we are to have a statutory list, sex and gender should be expressly included. He voiced his surprise that the legislation omitted this category of potential victims. It is clear that this amendment would plug a gap in the law and ensure that all people subject to harassment or violent assault are better protected. As Robin Moira White, a barrister at Old Square Chambers, suggested, if this amendment is not accepted, all those subject to these abuses will continue to remain at risk. Quite plainly, this amendment is a catch-all clause; it is designed to protect everyone.