ICCL has called for laws to tackle hate crime for years. Hate crimes are message crimes, intended to silence entire communities. It is vital that the hateful element of a crime is recorded throughout our criminal justice system, from reporting all the way to court.
ICCL made a submission to the Oireachtas Justice Committee on the proposal to legislate against hate crime.
In the submission, we recommend that hate crime and hate speech be treated separately. Though the issues are related, they are distinct and must be treated as such in law.
Hate crimes are already codified crimes, such as assault or vandalism. Introducing hate crime legislation means that where such crimes are motivated by hatred towards specific communities and groups this will now be recognised in Court and in sentencing.
Hate speech, though abhorrent, should only be outlawed in the most extreme cases such as incitement to violence. Otherwise legislation risks impinging on freedom of expression. We recommend that hate speech be treated in separate legislation to hate crime to avoid confusion.
The proposed legislation is only one piece of the puzzle. We also call for government to implement other, non-criminal law measures, such as national education programmes and training for law enforcement to tackle non-criminal hate speech. Criminal law should only be used as a matter of last resort.
We are calling for a national action plan to combat hate crime and hate speech which goes beyond criminal law. This should include education, effective monitoring and reporting mechanisms, an enabling environment for counter-speech, training of public actors including police, and national awareness campaigns.