A scathing think tank report says the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has been “captured” by radical trans ideology which is putting women and children at risk.
Policy Exchange has accused the prosecuting authority for England and Wales of having been “unduly influenced” by controversial LGBT charity Stonewall in its guidance about domestic abuse.
The CPS guidelines on gender identity and “trans and non-binary” domestic abuse victims “misstates the law” by taking the view that “partners and family members of those who identify as transgender must unquestioningly support their transition, and that not doing so is inherently abusive,” the report states.
Maureen O’Hara, the academic and former lawyer who authored the report, described the CPS guidance as a “muddled exposition” of criminal law with indications of “ideological capture”.
She claims that, “rather than remaining neutral in relation to gender identity beliefs and gender critical beliefs, the CPS has adopted a highly partisan ideological approach based on gender identity theory.”
In one of a number of recommendations put forward, she suggests a complete ban on “de facto self-declaration” of gender identity to bring the practices of the CPS and other criminal justice institutions into “alignment with the law.”
Stonewall
Ms. O’Hara examined Annex D of the CPS guidance relating to domestic abuse.The guidelines—updated in December 2022—give examples of “how trans and non-binary people may be abused by intimate partners or family members.”
Writing in the report, she said the content of Annex D and some of the language it uses suggest “that the CPS has adopted a belief in the concept of ‘gender identity’ as if it were a universally accepted fact rather than a highly political, controversial theory.”
The academic says it also fails to take account of the fact that both gender identity beliefs and gender critical beliefs are protected beliefs under the Equality Act 2010.
Examples of domestic abuse included by the CPS “fail to distinguish clearly between types of behaviour which are criminal and those which are not,” it states.
“This may lead the partners and family members of those who identify as transgender to believe that they are breaking the law when this is not the case,” the report added.
“It could also lead some prosecutors to give erroneous advice to the police and to misapply the law when initiating prosecutions.”
The report says the CPS’ association with LGBT charity Stonewall was a “significant factor in shaping” Annex D guidance, some of which is “framed by the language and concepts of gender identity theory”.
Until September 2021, the prosecuting authority was a member of the campaigning charity’s Stonewall Diversity Champions programme.
Judges
Ms. O’Hara said “ideological capture” has led the CPS to publish legal guidance which describes the law inaccurately.“The proposed legal guidance on deception as to sex also contains inaccuracies about the law and includes proposals which the CPS does not have the authority to make,” she wrote.
“If these proposals are adopted, the CPS may be vulnerable to judicial review. The contents of both these documents suggest that the CPS is now so in thrall to gender identity theory that, in this area of law, it may be losing sight of its core purposes.”
Robert Buckland, the former Justice Secretary, welcomed the report for revealing a “lack of proper process and accountability”, particularly in an area affecting women and children whom the law must protect.
Writing in the foreward, Mr. Buckland said: “To reflect gender identity beliefs as a set of undisputed facts is not only mistaken but it comes at a huge cost—especially to the women and children that the criminal law should be there to protect. This report points out that failing to support a partner’s feelings about their gender is not equivalent to a form of domestic abuse, which is a serious offence.”
It was also welcomed by former judge Charles Wide, KC, Lord Sandhurst, KC and Sir Patrick Elias, the former Lord Justice of Appeal.
The report makes six recommendations to the CPS, including withdrawing and re-writing “all guidance, proposed guidance, and other documents in this area which are not aligned with the law and/or which express a partisan ideological approach”.
It also says the CPS should be fully transparent on the organisations and individuals consulted with on Annex D.
‘Absence of Public Scrutiny’
The latest Policy Exchange report comes just over a year since it called criminal justice policy surrounding transgender ideology to be reviewed as "a matter of urgency”.The academic said that the “policies are not aligned with the law and have developed in the absence of public scrutiny or democratic consensus”.
The report listed many examples where “extreme ideology” clashed with official guidance despite the fact “that this is not aligned with the law.”
“However, the concept of ‘gender identity’ frames gender as an individual, subjective identity based on an idea. Some of those who subscribe to this concept believe that ‘gender identity’ should take precedence over biological sex as a social and legal category. Some believe that there is a spectrum of gender identities,” Ms. O’Hara wrote.
For example, many police forces have recorded suspected and convicted offenders who identify as transgender on the basis of their self-declared gender identity rather than their biological sex.
The report said that any of the problems identified “could be significantly ameliorated by ending the de facto self-declaration of ‘gender identity’ within the criminal justice system.”
