[image courtesy of
Nottinghamshire Police]
According to a number of new reports (
here,
here etc.), it appears other Police forces around the UK are showing interest in Nottinghamshire Police's "misogyny" initiative after they reported some 20 or so incidents in the two months since launch in June 2016 (source does not appear to be available online at time of writing to confirm these numbers).
It's still unclear what the change actually entails as headlines and reporting make the initiative appear as if individuals (men and/or boys) are being singled out and specifically arrested for "misogynist" offenses/hate crimes/abuse, rather than their being arrested and charged for an hate/abuse act that's then simply statistically
categorised as "misogynist" due to the victims being women/girls. The difference matters.
As discussed in the original post above the UK already has a dozen primary and ancillary laws on the books protecting individuals (subject to certain "
protected characteristics") from the kinds of harassment, abuse, etc., they may encounter on a day-to-day basis (see links above) as voiced by the NWC in the reportage. From an 'offense' point of view there doesn't seem to be a need for something specifically tailored towards women and girls when the aforementioned laws are supposed to/already cover, such transgressive behaviours. This then begs the question; if such offenses/crimes are already covered, why is this initiative needed to "encourage" women/girls to come forward and/or for the system to "take such crimes/behaviours more seriously". In other words, if the laws are already there, what's preventing people from using them to prosecute offenses/crimes appropriately. What does this initiative do the laws and policies weren't already doing.
With that said, is this policy redefining current legislation/law absent proper Parliamentary/Judicial process/debate/change, are the Police granting themselves authority to arrest men/boys specifically for "misogynistic" offenses or crimes -
are the Police are creating a new category of arrest-able offenses. Are men and women arrested for serious offenses like "**** assault" or relatively minor ones like "online offensive/hate speech" being treated prejudicially as different crimes as a consequence of offender/victim ****/gender relationships -
are men treated more harshly for example if the offense is perpetrated against a women or girl. Or is this simply a re-categorisation initiative, an attempt by Authorities to readjust (fudge) Crime Data already captured so they appear more pro-actively supportive of openly Feminist mandates from organisations like the Nottingham Women's Centre, the Register Charity behind the scheme[1] -
are boys/men essentially 'counted' multiple times for the same offense/crime, once for the act itself, another if such act are perpetrated women or girls. For sake of equality and fairness, are MRA[2] organisations going to lobby women be subject to 'misandry' for committing ****/gender-specific offense/crimes against men/boys.
Footnotes:
[1] The line between what a Charity can or cannot do in terms of lobbying for change/s to law, policy, regulation etc., is fuzzy and subject to interpretation; under current guidelines so long as any such activity is supplementary to the Charities main cause (it isn't the Charities primary mandate), they are permitted to engage in 'lobbying'. Having said that the guidelines do make it clear that prejudicial or biased campaigning is not permitted, i.e., activities that specifically target, or result in the targeting of others - an openly Feminist Women's organisation lobbying for change that specially targets men and boys, rather than protecting women, can be argued to be misandrist because its prejudicial against the former group, using the latter as leverage to goal achievement.
- Speaking Out: guidance on campaigning and political activity by charities.
- Charities and Campaigning.
[2] MRA = Mens Rights Activist/Advocate. Groups, organisations or individuals lobbying a "men's/boys rights" platform.
