Despite backing from some law enforcement officials in the wake of the murder of Sarah Everard, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he doesn’t support making misogyny a hate crime because it would create too much work for police. He told a BBC radio program that violence against women was the “number one issue in policing” but the answer was to enforce current laws better, rather than creating new ones.
“To be perfectly frank, if you simply widen the scope of what you ask the police to do you’ll just increase the problem,” he said. “What you need to do is get police to focus on the very real crimes, the very real feeling of injustice and betrayal that many people feel.” Eleven of 43 police forces in England and Wales classify misogyny as a hate crime; proponents argue women are more confident to report harassment if there are repercussions.
Read it at The Independent
