Scotland's prosecutors using offender's chosen gender to record crimes
Prosecutors have been accused of 'protecting the egos of offenders' by recording their self-declared gender in official figures.
Hate crime data produced by the Crown Office reflects a mix of gender based on physical appearance as recorded by police officers, and self-ID.
The Crown Office insists that 'information regarding the sex or gender of accused persons is not essential to prosecute crime' – and that it will respect the 'pronouns of an accused person'.
It comes after the Supreme Court ruled that the words 'woman' and 'sex' in the Equality Act 2010 refer to a biological woman and biological sex, rather than chosen gender.
Last night Scottish Tory justice spokesman Liam Kerr said: 'This confirms how entrenched the SNP 's gender self-ID obsession is in Scotland's justice system and will undoubtedly lead to further confusion in how crimes are recorded.
'The Crown should have the scope to focus on what really matters, rather than being forced to waste time protecting the egos of offenders.'
A Crown Office report on hate crime says 'sex can be considered to refer to whether someone is male or female based on their physiology and genetic make-up', while 'gender' represents a 'social construct or sense of self that takes a wider range of forms'.
The Crown said 'in this report we refer to ''sex'' rather than ''gender'' because this better reflects recording practices in relation to this information'.
But the report also says: 'In reality, it is likely that recording includes a mixture of physiological and personal identity.
'The sex of a small number of accused is not recorded, where the police have not provided this information to COPFS [Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service].'
The report adds: 'Sex, as referred to in this bulletin, is generally identified by a police officer based on their assessment of whether a person presents as male or female – in most cases, this is based on the physiology of a person rather than self-identified gender.
'It is recorded for operational purposes, such as requirements for searching. It is also included in the information reported to COPFS.
'However, in most cases, information regarding the sex or gender of accused persons is not essential to prosecute crime.
'It would only be essential where it is material to the proof of the crime.'
The Crown said it 'will respect and use the chosen name and pronouns of an accused person in all communications with them'.
Last night Dr Kath Murray, of gender-critical think-tank Murray Blackburn Mackenzie, said: 'The corruption of criminal justice data on sex has come about through a blinkered reliance on activists in pursuit of gender self-identification.'
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