Hate crime: availability of information recorded by the police in Scotland

Introduction

This progress report provides an update on work by Scottish Government statisticians and Police Scotland to review the availability of information on hate crime recorded by the police in Scotland.

Across Scotland, hate crimes are recorded by the police on a system known as the Interim Vulnerable Persons Database (IVPD). The IVPD is an incident-based database which was introduced in 2013, and became a national system in 2014. Police Scotland use the IVPD to record information about individuals who are, or are perceived to be, experiencing some form of adversity and/or situational vulnerability which may impact on their current or future wellbeing.

The IVPD's primary function is to support the day-to-day operational procedures of Police Scotland. However, as it is the only system in Scotland that holds information on all hate-related activity faced by the police - a review was commenced in 2016 to investigate what associated analysis could be produced on the scale and nature of police recorded hate crime in Scotland.

The report is split into the following four sections:

1. An outline of legislation used to record hate crime and existing data sources.

2. A description of the Interim Vulnerable Persons Database (IVPD) and the findings of a joint exercise between Scottish Government statisticians and Police Scotland to investigate the suitability of using the IVPD to produce summary information on hate crime recorded by the police.

3. Summary information on hate crime recorded by the police in the IVPD, for each of the four years from 2014-15 to 2017-18;

• In relation to race, religion, sexual orientation, disability and transgender identity.

4. Further information on the recording of hate crime.

Definitions

This report draws on information recorded by Police Scotland and adopts the categorisations and definitions used by them when they record such information.

Hate crime

For the purpose of this report, a hate crime is any crime which is perceived by the victim or any other person, to be motivated (wholly or partly) by malice and ill-will towards a social group.

The perception of the victim (or any other person) is relevant when considering the recording and subsequent investigation of hate crime by the police. Whereas for the purposes of prosecution the perception of the victim is not part of the statutory test as to whether or not a hate crime has been committed, the perception of the victim can contribute to establishing the motivation or demonstration of malice and ill-will by the accused.

In Scotland, the law recognises hate crimes as crimes motivated by prejudice based on the following characteristics:

• Race,
• Religion,
• Sexual orientation,
• Disability,
• Transgender identity.

A person does not need to be a member of a social group to be the victim of a hate crime. The law states that the identity of the victim is irrelevant as to whether something is a hate crime or not; the motivation of the perpetrator is the key factor in defining a hate crime.

It should be noted that a single report of hate crime can result in more than one hate crime being recorded and can include crimes which are not hate-related.

Furthermore, not all hate-related incidents which come to the attention of the police will necessarily constitute a criminal offence (though the vast majority do). Where an incident does not include the recording of a hate crime, a similar definition to that outlined above (i.e. the perception of the victim or any other person to a perpetrator's malice and ill-will towards a social group) is relevant as to whether or not it is defined as hate-related within the IVPD.

Further information on recording hate-related incidents

For police recording purposes, the perception of the victim or any other person is relevant when considering whether an incident is hate-related or in recognising the malice element of a crime. The perception of the victim should always be explored, however they do not have to justify or provide evidence of their belief and police officers or staff members will not directly challenge this perception.

In terms of reporting hate crimes to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), Lord Advocate guidelines state that the victim's belief alone that an offence was aggravated by prejudice does not justify the charging of a statutory aggravation. If there is evidence to support that opinion, whether from one or more sources (including the victim), that should be reflected in the draft charge presented to the Procurator Fiscal, by including the relevant aggravation. This evidence will most frequently come from words spoken by the accused, but the important point is that there is evidence in addition to the victim's belief.

A hate crime is reportable to COPFS when the charge in aggravated form is assessed as having sufficient evidence of malice and ill-will to be put before the court. In the absence of words spoken, any report submitted should detail course of conduct by the accused that would evidence the crime was motivated by malice and ill-will.