This week Parliament completed final consideration of the Crime and Policing Bill. An amendment (agreed by the Commons on 14 April and confirmed by the Lords on 16 April) classifies anti‑LGBTQ+ hate crime as an aggravated offence, aligning it with racially and religiously aggravated hate crimes for sentencing purposes. Royal Assent is imminent.
Universities handle hate incidents through their own conduct policies/procedures. We know that (for several reasons) this is often an alternative to police reporting for students.
An “aggravated” offence means hostility or prejudice was a motivating factor in the conduct. If you’re investigating a report involving racist, homophobic, transphobic, or misogynistic conduct in a student community, this may already be a consideration.
Does this change anything in practice? How does your institution categorise incidents? Is your investigation process set up to capture hostility/prejudice as a distinct element? What signals do you give respondents about severity, and are your disciplinary panel members on the same page as your specialist support team and investigator(s)?
As the sector attempts to balance its duties under both E6 and the OfS freedom of speech guidance, this is a reminder that HE investigation/discipline work doesn’t exist in a vacuum; changes such as these can impact institutional practice.
I offer investigation services, trauma-informed investigation training, and consultancy. Contact me on jenny@campusresolve.co.uk