No intent to criminalise thought in proposed hate crime bill, says Justice Minister Naomi Long

The Bill is set to be brought to the Northern Ireland Assembly later in the mandate.

Ms Long told the Assembly on Monday that the proposed legislation will not create new crimes, but instead look at motivation for existing offences.

During questions for her department, Ms Long was asked by DUP MLA Joanne Bunting whether it will "turn the PSNI into the thought police".

TUV MLA Jim Allister asked Ms Long following what he termed "disastrous Scottish legislation" whether "misgendering" would be an offence.

Ms Long responded "no" to Mr Allister's question, and responding to Ms Bunting added: "There is no intent to criminalise thought.

"There is no intent to criminalise opinion. Any legislation will be developed in accordance with articles nine and ten of the European Convention on Human Rights, and as such will not affect people's ability to have private conversation.

"In fact, the intention in terms of freedom of expression is to extend the protections for freedom of expression to exist for all private conversations, irrespective of where it takes place, unlike the current situation where only in a private residence is it protected."

Ms Long went on: "I have no plans to criminalise free speech.

"I have no plans to make a description of another person's biological sex a criminal offence, however, targeting a person because of who they are or what they believe, be it their race, religion, political belief, sexuality, gender identity or disability, is wrong.

"It is not necessarily criminal, but it is wrong, and from my perspective the purpose of the hate crime Bill, which will be brought to the Assembly in the latter half of this mandate, is to support victims and to send a clear message that hate crime in any shape or form will not be tolerated.

"The final content of the Bill is still under consideration but there is no intention to criminalise opinion."

SDLP MLA Matthew O'Toole said race hate crime levels in Northern Ireland are now higher than sectarian hate crime and asked whether the Bill will "get to the heart of the increased race hate crime we are experiencing".

Ms Long said the Bill seeks to look at the stirring up of hatred and attacks motivated by hatred.

"We are not creating new crimes. What we are doing is taking into account the motivation for those crimes," she said.

"So, if no crime has been committed, then no offence will be seen by the courts, but when a crime has been committed against an individual, and the courts are able to establish the motivation for that crime to be a hate motive, then that will be taken into account in sentencing, and also crucially in the recording of that crime, because then that gives us a much clearer handle on the extent to which those from different ethnic backgrounds, different religious backgrounds, and indeed those with different sexuality and gender are being targeted as a result of hate," she said.