The language of hate crime
Professor Louise Mullany has been leading the LiPP team’s research into the language of hate crime on the street, online and in other public spaces since 2016.
A key part of this work involves investigating the language of 'misogyny' as a hate crime, following ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½shire Police's decision to become the first force in the country to make misogyny a recognised hate crime in April 2016. LiPP organised a policy event at the House of Commons in October 2016 as part of , including a panel on the language of misogyny as a hate crime with Stella Creasy MP and Chief Constable Susannah Fish OBE, QPM.
Misogyny Hate Crime Evaluation Report
Professor Mullany has worked in collaboration with Dr. Loretta Trickett at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Law School, ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Trent University, on a to assess the impact of ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½shire Police's change in policy.
The evaluation report found that people in ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½shire will not tolerate misogyny hate crime and a policy to record misogyny hate crimes introduced in 2016 by ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½shire Police is already shifting the attitudes of both victims and potential perpetrators. Over 87% of people surveyed thought a policy change in 2016 to make misogyny a hate crime in ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½shire, was a good idea.
This work fed into the National Police Chiefs’ Council and the Women and Equalities Select Committee review of street harassment, contributing to proposed amendments to the Upskirting Bill and the government tasking the Law Commission with reviewing hate crime laws in 2019.
The , published in September 2020, cites Professor Mullany and Dr Trickett’s research in recommending that gender or sex should become a protected characteristic for the purposes of hate crime law.
Educational resources
A key recommendation of the Misogyny Hate Crime Evaluation Report was to use educational campaigns, which actively and positively engage boys and men, to change negative attitudes and behaviours that perpetuate Misogyny Hate Crime.
Dawn of the Unread was commissioned to produce a comic book, intended to be the first of several such educational tools.
Click here to read more about the comic
Our research in the press