Member

Before I come to the specific mischief that I am trying to prevent, I want to make a broader point about what these government amendments actually achieve. The Crown Prosecution Service already has the power to flag sexual orientation, disability and transgender identity as aggravating factors when bringing a prosecution. When flagged in this way, the offence is recorded as a hate crime by the police and, under the Sentencing Act 2020, the court can take those aggravating factors into account at the sentencing stage. So what exactly is the point of adding those three characteristics as aggravators to the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 or to the new offences relating to emergency workers? They are already in practice treated as aggravators by the police, the CPS and the courts.