Scottish police insists male rapists is not going to be recorded as feminine

Scottish police have said male rapists and sex offenders will not be officially recorded as female even if they self-identify as woman.

On Wednesday, Deputy Chief Constable Alan Spiers told Scottish politicians male sex offenders would always be categorised as male whilst in the system. 

However his letter to Holyrood’s justice committee, has sparked some to accuse the force of ‘institutional gaslighting’ as they implied this had been its policy the entire time.

The recent move has been described as a ‘major U-turn’, as the police force previously released public statements saying suspects could self-identify as female.

In March, Police Scotland had said the gender identity of any individual in contact with the authorities would be based how an individual ‘present[s]’ or ‘self-declare[s]’

Police Scotland have made a ‘major U-turn’ as they announce male prisoners will not be officially recorded as women regardless of how they self-identify (Pictured: Isla Bryson)

There was previously outcry in Scotland after Isla Bryson was convicted of raping two women whilst living under their previous name Adam Graham (Pictured)

Deputy Chief Constable Speirs said the policy came with certain exceptions, including if biological sex was ‘pertinent to any investigation with which they are linked as a victim, witness or accused’.

However, an Edinburgh based policy analysis group – Murray Blackburn Mackenzie – noted several times the force protected gender self identification. 

‘This is a major U-turn by Police Scotland,’ Lucy Hunter-Blackburn, a former senior civil servant who is part of MBM, told The Telegraph.

‘We welcome that Police Scotland has at last recognised that allowing sex offenders to self-identify their sex is indefensible.

‘It is, however, an extraordinary act of institutional gaslighting to pretend that this is not a significant policy change from their position over almost five years.’

Police Scotland said an incident of an individual being ‘arrested and charged with rape’ whilst being recorded as female has not happened, according to The Telegraph. 

It was unclear whether this applied to individuals accused of sexual assault or those arrested for rape but not charged. 

The sex offender was then sent to a male prison (Pictured) and Scottish jail policy was revised following the scandal

The controversy regarding the topic of gender identification in Scottish prisons arose with Isla Bryson, who was born a man.

Bryson was convicted of raping two women whilst living under their previous name Adam Graham. 

Bryson had initially been placed in a women’s prison in February 2023, despite having not legally changed sex, sparking out roar among the public. 

Following the public outcry, the sex offender was then sent to a male prison.

The jail policy, which was inspired by Nicola Sturgeon’s self-identification principles, was also revised following the scandal.