Law Commission urges stronger hate crime laws, not new offences

Hate crime laws are not working well in practice, but the existing legal framework should be improved rather than creating new offences, the Law Commission has found.In its report set to be tabled in Parliament on Wednesday, the commission found the current approach of giving longer sentences for crimes motivated by hate remained the most appropriate model.Hate speech, and making behaviour that was not already considered an offence illegal, were out of scope of the review."While we do consider whether to create new hate crime offences, they would only apply to acts (such as assault) that are already an offence ... our focus is on how the justice system should respond when offending is found to have been motivated by hostility towards a group of people."The commission said it did not recommend creating new hate crime offences because it was "unlikely that hate crime offenders would be consistently charged with or convicted of" them.Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith.RNZ / Samuel RillstoneSuch offences would be more difficult to prove, making the law more complex and in some cases could mean hate offending was not tackled at all.However, the current regime also faced problems, including that courts did not need to state publicly when a crime was motivated by hate, such crimes were not well documented, and the law did not ensure courts knew prosecutors and police though a crime was motivated by hate or hostility.The report made 12 recommendations*:Change charging documents to say when hostility or prejudice (hate) should be considered an aggravating factor (under section 9(1)(h) of the Sentencing Act) by amending the Sentencing and Criminal Procudure Acts. Courts would be able to add or remove this at any time, but must permanently record when the section is used at sentencing.Have courts share with police and Corrections when charging documents include that hate crime section, and include that detail on permanent court records.Include details about the people, groups or characteristics targeted when the court shares this information, where technically feasible.When someone is convicted of a crime motivated by hate towards a group of people with a specific characteristic, require courts to say soRemove the requirement for the offender to believe the victim had the relevant characteristic by repealing Section 9(1)(h)(ii) of the Sentencing ActAdd 'sex' to the list of example characteristics, to make clear that targeting someone based on their sex - particularly women - should be considered a hate crimeHave police review and update guidance, to ensure officers and prosecutors know of law changes from this reviewHave police share that updated guidance with Crown solicitorsHave police and Crown Solicitors provide training on the law changes, supported by Crown LawGive judges training and guidance on the law changes, through the Institute of Judicial StudiesPolice should publish annual data on hate crimesMinistry of Justice should publish annual court data on hate crime cases* Wording has been changed for clarity and brevityThe commission said it did not recommend using the terms "hate" or "hate crime" in legislation, instead focusing on hostility to groups of people, but noted the terms were common and the report used them as they were shorter and easier to understand than alternatives.Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith said the goverment's primary focus was on reducing the number of victims of crime."The report shows that in a broad sense our current hate crime laws are working. Rather than recommending we create a bespoke offence, the commission has identified areas it believes could be improved," he said."We will consider their recommendations in due course."The review was launched by the Law Commission in early 2024 after the coalition ordered a halt to a separate review of hate speech.The previous Labour government had planned to bring in hate speech laws in response to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Christchurch terrorist attacks, which recommended ensuring hate speech and hate crime laws were fit for purpose.Labour leader Chris Hipkins.RNZ / Samuel RillstoneThis included the creation of specific hate-motivated offences under the Summary Offences Act and the Crimes Act.However, Labour faced significant public backlash over its hate speech changes by free speech proponents after failing to clearly explain what would be classed as hate speech.Labour later withdrew its proposed legislation and referred the matter to the Law Commission, but the coalition scrapped that review in favour of this one.The commission noted that although hate speech was outside its scope, "a significant number of individuals and groups raised the issue during consultation".Destiny Church leader Brian Tamaki.RNZ / Angus DreaverConcern about hate speech resurfaced in recent weeks after Destiny Church leader Brian Tamaki called on followers to "purge" Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims including by burning down mosques and temples.Political parties had mixed stances, with the Greens and Te Pāti Māori saying they supported legislating against hate speech, National saying it did not, ACT calling for more enforcement of current laws, and Labour promising to share a detailed policy in due course.NZ First did not respond at the time.The government will be expected to respond to the recommendations.