Cops to record rapes as committed by woman if male attacker identifies as female
COPS will record rapes as being committed by a woman if a male attacker simply identifies as a female, it’s emerged.
Police Scotland revealed the accused would not need to have legally changed gender.
But former Holyrood Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill last night branded the move “absurd”.
In correspondence seen by The Scottish Sun on Sunday, the ex-Nats minister asked the force how it would deal with recording sex assaults once new gender self-ID laws come in.
Assistant Chief Constable Gary Ritchie set out a number of scenarios where a rapist could be recorded as a woman — including “where a person, born male but who identifies as a female and does not have a full gender recognition certificate and then commits rape”.
Mr MacAskill, now an Alba MP, blasted: “As a lawyer for 20 years and Justice Secretary for almost eight, I’ve seen some legal absurdities.
“But this tops it all and is dangerous. It’s physically impossible and is about dogma overriding common sense.”
The SNP and Greens’ power-sharing pact commits to bringing in the laws by mid-2022.
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It means men can identify as women without medical checks. The move is opposed by some feminist groups over safety fears.
Policy analysts MurrayBlackburnMackenzie want police to be made to accurately record the sex of those charged with rape or attempted rape.
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The group’s Lisa Mackenzie said: “It’ll only take a few mis- classified cases to skew statistics.”
Detective Superintendent Fil Capaldi said: “The gender identification of individuals will be based on how they present or self-declare, which is consistent with the organisation’s values.”
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