Comments by JK Rowling that described prominent transgender women activists as “men” will not be recorded as a non-crime hate incident, Police Scotland has said.
The Harry Potter author challenged police to arrest her in a series of posts on X on Monday as the Scottish government’s contentious hate crime law came into force, which she described as “wide open to abuse”. She listed sex offenders who had described themselves as transgender alongside well-known trans women activists, describing them as “men, every last one of them”.
On Tuesday the force confirmed that her comments did not amount to a crime, as it emerged that more than 3000 complaints had been made under the new act within the first 48 hours.
The Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 extends statutory aggravations to more protected characteristics including age and transgender identity, and creates a new offence where someone communicates material or behaves in a threatening or abusive manner with the intention of “stirring up hatred” based on these protected characteristics, with a maximum custodial sentence of seven years.
While supporters of the act insist that the bar for prosecution is set “very high”, further concerns have been raised about the recording of “non-crime hate incidents” that do not meet the criminal threshold and are based on the perception of the victim or a bystander.
Although this method of recording has been in place for many years as a means of monitoring community tensions, Police Scotland is now reviewing its procedures after a court of appeal ruling stated that a similar policy in England could have an effect on freedom of expression.
A number of the complaints received by the force since Monday related to a speech made by the first minister, Humza Yousaf, when he was the justice secretary in 2020, during which he highlighted the preponderance of white people in senior public roles.
Police Scotland confirmed that no crime had been committed in this case, nor was a non-crime hate incident recorded.
This morning, the Scottish government’s community safety minister, Siobhian Brown, told BBC Radio’s Good Morning Scotland programme that “misinformation” and publicity had led to the high number of reports, adding that a “fake complaint” had been made using her name and contact details.
She insisted that the extended “stirring up” offence had a “very, very high threshold for criminality”.
“We’ve been very clear within the act this is not about restricting freedom of expression, it is to protect”, she added.
The Loose Women presenter India Willoughby, a transgender woman who was named in Rowling’s post, said that Police Scotland’s decision was “weak”.
