Racist Incidents Recorded by the Police in Scotland, 2010-11

3. Commentary

3.1 Incidents Recorded by the Police, by Police Force Area

In 2010-11, there were a total of 4,907 racist incidents recorded by the police in Scotland, a one per cent decrease on the 4,960 racist incidents recorded in 2009-10. The number of racist incidents has fallen for the fourth consecutive year, and is now eight per cent lower than the 5,322 incidents recorded in 2006-07 (Table 1).

Central, Grampian and Fife each showed an increase in the total number of racist incidents recorded from 2009-10 to 2010-11. The number of racist incidents recorded in Tayside remained the same as in 2009-10, while Dumfries & Galloway, Lothian & Borders, Northern and Strathclyde police forces each showed a decrease in the number of racist incidents recorded between 2009-10 and 2010-11.

The number of racist incidents, as a rate per 10,000 local population, is generally higher in urban areas than in more rural areas. In 2010-11, the number of racist incidents recorded per head of population was highest in Glasgow City (22.4 per 10,000 population, followed by Aberdeen City (21.4 per 10,000 population) and City of Edinburgh (17.4 per 10,000 population) (Table 2).

It should be noted that there are a number of factors that may influence the number of racist incidents recorded by the police. One reason is that police forces work with a range of victim support agencies to encourage reporting of such incidents. Other factors may be an increasing public intolerance of such behaviour, and increased public confidence that reporting such incidents is worthwhile. There have also been improvements in data collection by police forces, while the introduction of centralised call centres has encouraged the reporting of incidents. For example, Fife attribute the increase in the number of racist incidents recorded in their area from 2009-10 to 2010-11 to a revamp of their systems supporting the production of the data in April 2010, resulting in a more accurate number of racist incidents being recorded.

Users of the statistics should note that data on the number of racist incidents recorded in Scotland is only available from 2004-05 onwards, and although the total number of incidents are comparatively lower in 2004-05, they have been falling since 2006-07.

3.2 Detail of the Incidents

Various information was recorded in relation to each incident, such as the location where the incident took place, the date and time of the incident, and whether a crime was recorded as part of the incident.

In 2010-11, 97 per cent of racist incidents recorded by the police resulted in one or more crimes being recorded (Table 1).

The most common locations for an incident in 2010-11 were the street (33 per cent), a dwelling house (19 per cent) and in a shop (17 per cent). Other locations included a restaurant / takeaway (eight per cent) and a pub / place of entertainment (six per cent) (Table 3).

In 2010-11, the most common time of year at which racist incidents occurred was during July to September, although this varies from year to year (Chart 2). The most common times at which racist incidents occurred were on Friday night and Saturday night, with more incidents generally occurring between the hours of 18:00 to midnight (Chart 3 and Table 5).

Chart 2 Incidents by financial year and quarter, 2004-05 to 2010-11

Chart 3 Incidents by weekday and time, 2004-05 to 2010-11

In 2010-11, where the person making the initial report about the incident was known, 73 per cent of incidents were reported to the police by the victim, which is a reduction from the 75 per cent in 2009-10 (Table 6). Other initial reporters included witnesses (12 per cent), the police (nine per cent) and agencies reporting on behalf of the victim (two per cent). Information for 2010-11 was based on all forces apart from Lothian & Borders, who were unable to provide data on who reported the incident (please refer to note 4.3).

3.3 Crimes Recorded

There was a total of 6,169 crimes recorded as part of racist incidents recorded in 2010-11, a five per cent decrease on the 6,470 crimes recorded in 2009-10 (Table 1). The number of crimes recorded as part of a racist incident has seen a reduction for the third consecutive year and is now at its lowest level since 2004-05.

In 2010-11, the crime/offence most frequently recorded as part of a racist incident was racially aggravated conduct, which accounted for 60 per cent of all crimes recorded. Other crimes/offences recorded as part of a racist incident included minor assault (14 per cent), breach of the peace (12 per cent), fire-raising / vandalism (six per cent) and racially aggravated harassment (three per cent) (Table 7a). In 2010-11, these five crimes and offences account for 94 per cent of all crimes and offences recorded as part of a racist incident. Definitions of racially aggravated conduct and racially aggravated harassment are included in note 4.6.

Overall, 67 per cent of all racist crimes recorded in 2010-11 were cleared up, which is a slight reduction on the clear-up rate for 2009-10 (Table 7b). However, in general, the clear-up rate for crimes recorded as part of a racist incident has shown an increasing trend in recent years. The clear-up rate varies depending on the crime recorded as part of the incident, with 37 per cent of crimes involving fire-raising, vandalism being cleared up in 2010-11, compared to a clear-up rate of 70 per cent for racially aggravated conduct. However, note that there were 353 crimes of fire-raising / vandalism recorded as part of an incident, compared to 3,680 crimes of racially aggravated conduct. The clear-up rate for racially aggravated conduct has shown an increase every year since recording began, and has increased from the 56 per cent cleared up in 2004-05. The definition of 'cleared-up' can be found in note 4.5.

3.4 Victims of Racist Incidents

Where ethnic origin was known, 46 per cent of victims of racist incidents in 2010-11 were of Asian origin (that is, Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Chinese or Other Asian). Overall, 24 per cent of victims of racist incidents in 2010-11 were Pakistani (Table 8). Based on the 2001 Census figures, the largest minority ethnic group in the Scottish population is Pakistani (note 4.10).

According to the 2001 Census, the minority ethnic population represented two per cent of the total Scottish population. As a proportion of the minority ethic population only, Pakistani were the largest ethnic group at 31 per cent, followed by Chinese (16 per cent) and Indian (15 per cent), while Africans represented five per cent of the minority ethnic population (note 4.10).

Relative to the proportions of the minority ethnic population, those of Chinese origin were victim to three per cent of racist incidents recorded by the police in 2010-11, while they represented 16 per cent of the minority ethnic population in 2001. In contrast, those of African origin were victim to 11 per cent of racist incidents in the minority ethnic group, but represented five per cent of the minority ethnic population in 2001. Please note that the above comparisons are based on victims of racist incidents recorded in 2010-11, while their relative proportions in the minority ethnic population are based on the 2001 Census and it is possible that the minority ethnic profile of Scotland may have changed during this period (Table 8 and note 4.10). Please also note that the age and gender distributions may vary between the minority ethnic groups and could in turn have an effect on the number of victims in minority ethnic groups.

Three quarters of victims of racist incidents recorded in 2010-11 were male (where age and gender was known), and this has remained relatively unchanged from previous years. Among male victims, 36 per cent of those who were a victim of a racist incident recorded in 2010-11 were aged 26-35, with this being the most common age group for male victims. However, the most common age group for female victims were those aged 36 to 50, with 31 per cent of female victims being in this age group. Overall, of those who were victims of a racist incident recorded in 2010-11, 14 per cent were aged 20 or under (Table 10).

In 2010-11, where the number of previous incidents reported to the police by the victim was known, 76 per cent were doing so for the first time, while 14 per cent of victims had previously reported one or two racist incidents to the police (Table 11). Note that these percentages were based on those incidents for which previous incident information was known. When recording whether the victim had reported previous racist incidents within the previous two years to the police, it was not always possible to determine the number of incidents previously reported. These have been described as 'unknown' in the table. 'Unknown' will also include victims for whom it was not known if they were a repeat victim or not.

3.5 Perpetrators of Racist Incidents

Information about perpetrators of racist incidents was only fully available where the incident was resolved, and any crime involved has been cleared up (see note 4.5 for definition of cleared up).

Where information on perpetrators was available, 82 per cent of perpetrators were White British, while 96 per cent of perpetrators were of any white origin, including White British, White Irish and Other White (which includes Gypsy / Traveller and Polish White) (Table 12).

Around 46 per cent of perpetrators in 2010-11 were aged 20 or under, with 23 per cent of perpetrators under the age of 16, and therefore making them eligible for referral to the Scottish Children's Reporter Administration (SCRA) rather than the Procurator Fiscal (Table 14). Males accounted for 79 per cent of perpetrators of racist incidents recorded by the police in 2010-11. There were 449 perpetrators whose age and/or gender were not recorded and these were not included when calculating the above percentages.

Where police action taken was known, 74 per cent of perpetrators in 2010-11 were referred to the Procurator Fiscal or SCRA, while two per cent received a police warning. No further action was taken against 10 per cent of perpetrators of racist incidents recorded by the police in 2010-11 (Table 15). Information for 2010-11 was based on all forces apart from Lothian & Borders, who were unable to provide data on the police action taken with regard to the perpetrator (please refer to note 4.3).