Concerns about hate crime Bill convictions unfounded

• Published date: 13 June 2023
• Publication title: Irish Times (Dublin, Ireland)

The Bill - which creates new, aggravated forms of certain existing criminal offences such as assault, where those offences are motivated by hatred against people with a "protected characteristic" such as race, gender, religion, sexual orientation or disability - has attracted criticism in unlikely quarters, including from Elon Musk and Donald Trump jnr, son of the former US president

Concerns have been expressed about a number of issues, including the definition of hatred to be used, and about the use of a demonstration test of proof in hate crime cases.

This test requires that a perpetrator demonstrates hatred towards a member of a protected group or characteristic at the time of an offence being committed.

The Bill does not actually define hatred or hate offence - the task of interpretation has been left to the courts.

This is not unusual, as judges routinely interpret terms. Nevertheless, I believe this is a lost opportunity to clarify "hatred" and "hate". Defining key terms in the Bill would provide clarity to all impacted by the law. With clear definitions, we all know what we are dealing with.

Legislators have options. They can stick with the Bill...