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The Government Hate Crime Bill - The End of Freedom of Expression and Speech is Nigh
national |
crime and justice |
news report
Tuesday November 08, 2022 22:28 by 1 of Indy
Here is some background to the legislation which is also found here: https://ichr.ie/the-abolition-of-freedom-of-expression-including-speech/ The Abolition of Freedom of Expression, Including SpeechOn the 28th of October 2022, the Government released a new bill titled the Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022 (hereinafter referred to as the “Bill”). In relation to this new proposed law, the Gov.ie website states the following:
Review of the BillThe Bill is split into 4 parts as follows: Part 1: deals with issues such as definitions and the meaning of protected characteristics. Part 2: is the section that provides for a new offence of incitement to violence or hatred which will replace the current law which is the Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act 1989. Part 3: creates new, aggravated forms of certain existing criminal offences, where those offences are motivated by prejudice against a protected characteristic. Part 4: deals with amendments to other pieces of existing legislation which will be required as a result of the passing of this Bill. Part 1 of the Bill: Preliminary and GeneralPart 1 Section 2 – is titled “Interpretation”. This section states that hatred means “hatred against a person or a group of persons in the State or elsewhere on account of their protected characteristics or any one of those characteristics” – so although this section purports to define hatred, it does not actually define what hatred is intended to mean. One interesting point to note is that the pre-bill called the General Scheme – Criminal Justice (Hate Crime) Bill 2021 did define hatred as meaning “detestation, significant ill will or hostility..”. Part 1 Section 3 – lists out all of the characteristics that will be protected under this Bill and includes race, colour, nationality, religion, national or ethnic origin, descent, gender, sex characteristics, sexual orientation and disability. The majority of these characteristics are already protected under other pieces of legislation such as the Equal Status Acts and Employment Equality Acts, however, this Bill introduces some new categories such as:
Part 2: Prohibition of Incitement to Violence or HatredPart 2 section 7(1) – creates a new offence of incitement to violence or hatred based on a person communicating material to the public or a section of the public or behaving in a public place in a manner that is likely to incite violence or hatred against a person or group of persons based on their protected characteristics. Questions:Three questions arise are
Part 2 section 6 – confirms that:
To be guilty of an offence under Part 2 Section 7(1), a person only has to display, publish or make available any material (this could be verbal, in writing or even gestures) in a place where the public has access (even if the public is not accessing the place at the time) and one single act is enough to breach this new Bill. Also, the threshold for this offence is intent or recklessness, which means that a person can be prosecuted if they intended to incite violence or hatred, or they are reckless as to whether violence or hatred might be incited. Part 2 section 7(3) – states that it will be a defence to this new crime of hate speech if the defendant can prove that the material consisted solely of a reasonable and genuine contribution to literary, artistic, political, scientific, religious, or academic discourse. Notes in relation to this Defence
Hate Speech PenaltiesThe sentence for hate speech under this Part 2 on summary conviction is a Class A fine, which means a fine of up to €5,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months, or on conviction on indictment, to a fine or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years or both. Part 2 Section 8 – introduces a completely new offence of condonation, denial or gross trivialisation of genocide, a crime against humanity, a war crime etc against persons on account of their protected characteristics. Part 2 Section 9 – states that a person may be found guilty of an offence under Sections 7 or 8 regardless of whether they were actually successful in inciting another person to violence or hatred. Part 2 section 10 – creates a new offence of preparing or possessing material that is likely to incite violence or hatred. This section of the Bill is seeking to criminalise people who create content that would incite violence with the intention of communicating it, but have not yet communicated it publicly. Part 2 Section 10(3) – states that where it is reasonable to assume that the material was not intended for the personal use of the person, the person shall be presumed, until they prove otherwise, to have committed an offence. The penalties under this section are on summary conviction to a Class C fine, which means up to €2,500 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or both, or on conviction on indictment to a Class A fine, so again this means a fine of up to €5,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years or both. It should be noted that these are the penalties that apply to a person who is found guilty of preparing or possessing material that might incite violence or hatred, but that has not been communicated to anyone as yet. Protection of Freedom of ExpressionThis next section is truly insincere and deceitful. Part 2 Section 11 is titled “Protection of freedom of expression”. This section states that any material or behaviour is not taken to incite violence or hatred against a person or a group of persons on account of their protected characteristics or any of those characteristics solely on the basis that that material or behaviour includes or involves discussion or criticism of matters relating to a protected characteristic Under this Section 11, discussion or criticism is said to be allowed. Discussion meaning the action or process of talking about something in order to reach a decision or to exchange ideas and criticism meaning the expression of disapproval of someone or something on the basis of perceived faults or mistakes. There was no similar protection offered in the pre bill for protection of freedom of expression. As I said the inclusion of this Section 11 is truly deceitful, because one could be forgiven for assuming that the remainder of the Bill is somewhat nullified, as most content can be described as discussion or criticism. That said, I believe this Section 11 was included in the Bill to ensure the Bill is passed by both Houses of the Oireachtas, but be under no doubt that the Gardai will entirely and wholeheartedly disregard this Section 11 when they are contemplating prosecutions. We make this assessment partially because the Gardai have gone so far as to task themselves with investigating and recording non hate crime incidents. According to An Garda Siochana website a hate crime is “Any criminal offence which is perceived by the victim or any other person to, in whole or in part, be motivated by hostility or prejudice, based on actual or perceived age, disability, race, colour, nationality, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation or gender.”, whereas, a hate incident, means any incident which is not a crime, but which “is perceived by any person to, in whole or in part, be motivated by hostility or prejudice, based on actual or perceived age, disability, race, colour, nationality, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation or gender.” Part 2 Section 15 – deals with search warrants and confirms that a District Court judge can issue a search warrant of any place where evidence of hate speech may be located, this section confirms that the Gardai may search any place noted in the warrant and any person located at that place, this section also confirms that the Gardai may use reasonable force to enter your property and they may examine, seize and retain anything found at that place including documents, phones, computers. Part 3: Offences Aggravated by HatredPart 3 Sections 17-20 – create new aggravated forms of certain existing criminal offences where those offences are said to be motivated by prejudice against a protected characteristic. Sections 17-20 include for updated offences like damaging property aggravated by hatred; threatening, abusive or insulting behaviour in public place aggravated by hatred; distribution or display in a public place material which is threatening, abusive, insulting or obscene aggravated by hatred; entering a building, etc., with intent to commit an offence aggravated by hatred. There are approximately another 10 existing offences that have also been updated this way. The updating of these existing criminal offences in essence creates new categories of crime, called hate crime. The net effect of hate crime is to create a hierarchy of justice, whereby a person who belongs to more minority groups will receive more justice. A simple example would be if a white person and a black person were both subjected to a physical assault, the perpetrator could receive a harsher sentence for their assault on the black person by virtue of the protected characteristic of their skin colour. Part 4: Amendments of other EnactmentsPart 4 – amends other pieces of existing legislation which would need to be updated by virtue of the passing of this Bill. What Actions Can You Take1. Write to your TD’s and Senators – Please find a template letter at the end of this page that you may use and adapt as you see fit. You will also find a second document setting out the contact details for all TD’s and Senators. Please do not wait to send this letter. Please do it today if you can. 2. Protest – We would encourage members of the public to organise protests throughout the country – the Irish Council for Human Rights will be happy to support and advertise any such protest. In this regard, please contact us at info@ichr.ie Template Letter to TDs and Senators https://ichr.ie/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Hate-Speech-and-Hate-Crime-Letter-to-TDs-and-Senators.docx Contact Information for TD’s https://ichr.ie/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/TD-Contact-Information-Spreadsheet-.xlsx hen Helen McEntee was introducing the new hate speech laws, she said: "Ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have guns, why would we let them have ideas". Sorry, my mistake - that was a quote from Stalin! https://www.facebook.com/Tracey-O-Mahony-Legal-Barrister-Founder-of-ICHR-100922115815436 About Tracey Tracey O' Mahony is an Irish lawyer and is registered on the Roll of Practising Barristers hate-speech-and-hate-crime-letter-to-tds-and-senators.docx 0.02 Mb td-contact-information-spreadsheet-.xlsx 0.02 Mb Caption: Video Id: jfzlEJ8Qnxc Type: Youtube Video |