Why is “JK Rowling arrested” becoming a trend?

Harry Potter author JK Rowling has found herself trending online again.

Her comments came after she appeared to have flouted new hate crime rules in Scotland.

What does JK Rowling say about Scotland’s hate crime laws?

On April 1, 2024, JK Rowling challenged Scotland’s new hate crime laws in a series of social media posts.

In it, she called on police to “arrest” anyone who appears to have committed a crime.

This comes after the Edinburgh-based Harry Potter author portrayed several transgender women, including convicted prisoners, transgender activists and other celebrities, as men.

She appeared to mock police by using the hashtag “arrest me” in a series of tweets.

JK was challenging Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf’s Hate Crime and Policing Act. Under the law, police can investigate people accused of “inciting hatred.”

To emphasize her point, she flagged cases including the Ira Bryson case.

The author sarcastically stated that rapist Bryson “discovered herself as a true woman just before she was sentenced.”

She added: “Misgendering is an abomination. So please respect Isla’s pronouns.”

Similarly, Samantha Norris, who was jailed for “exposing her penis” to two girls, “is still a woman to me,” she said.

She also tweeted about Amy George, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for sexually abusing a girl she kidnapped while dressed as a woman.

However, in a further message, JK added: “April Fools! Apparently the people mentioned in the tweet above are not women, the last one is all men.”

This is not the first time JK has come under fire for transgender issues.

In 2020, she posted a viral tweet in which she questioned the safety of women in locker rooms.

She was accused of transphobia when she responded to an article headlined “Opinion: Creating a more equal post-COVID-19 world for people who menstruate”.

She tweeted: “‘People who menstruate.’ I’m sure there was a word for such people. Somebody please help me. Unbeng? Wimpundo? Oumd?”

Some people fired back by pointing out that it’s not just women born female who menstruate.

In 2019, JK was also accused of supporting a fired researcher by tweeting, “Men can’t turn into women.”

The author replied: “My life has been shaped by being a woman.

“I don’t think it’s a bad thing to say that.”

What are Scotland’s new hate crime laws?

Scotland’s first minister, Humza Yousaf, said the new law would address “the rise in hatred”.

The Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 creates a new offense of “inciting hatred” in relation to age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity or intersex.

The law does not protect women as a group from hatred.

The Scottish Government will later include this in separate misogyny legislation.

What if JK Rowling committed a hate crime?

The law prohibits a person from communicating or communicating material that “a reasonable person would consider to be threatening or abusive” with the intent to incite hatred on the basis of a protected characteristic. It stipulates that action will be taken if the person behaves in an unethical manner.

The maximum penalty under Scotland’s new law is seven years in prison.

SNP Minister Siobhan Brown appeared to accept that JK could be prosecuted.

Speaking on Radio 4’s Today program when the Hate Crime and Policing Act came into force, she said:

“Whether the police consider it to be a crime is up to Police Scotland.”

The bill was passed in 2021 when Humza Yousaf was attorney general in Nicola Sturgeon’s government.

The scheme was only introduced after Police Scotland spent time training its officers.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak backed Rowling, saying: “No one should be made a criminal for stating simple facts about biology.

“We believe in freedom of speech this country”