Racist Incidents Recorded by the Police in Scotland, 2011-12

2. Main Points

• There were 5,389 racist incidents recorded by the police in 2011-12, an increase of 10% compared to 2010-11 when 4,911 incidents were recorded. This is the first increase in the number of racist incidents recorded by the police in the last five years (Table 1).
• Racist Incidents resulted in the recording of 6,472 crimes in 2011-12, an increase of 5% compared to 2010-11 when 6,173 crimes were recorded. There was a 68% clear up rate on crimes recorded as part of a racist incident. This is a one percentage point increase on the 2010-11 clear up rate and the highest rate since 2004-05, when the racist incidents data collection started (Tables 1 and 7b).
• The most common crimes/offences recorded were racially aggravated conduct (57%) and breach of the peace etc. (19%). Please note that from in 2010-11 onwards, breach of the peace etc. includes a number of new statutory offences; Threatening or abusive behaviour, Stalking, Offensive behaviour at football and Threatening communications. See note 4.8. (Table 7a).
• In 2011-12, 34% of all racist incidents recorded by the police occurred on the street, while 19% took place in a dwelling house and a further 17% in a shop (where location of known) (Table 3).
• Of those who were victims of a racist incident, 34% were aged 26 to 35 years, compared to 13% who were aged 20 or under (where age and gender was known). Males were more likely to be a victim of a racist incident (17 per 10,000 population) than females (6 per 10,000 population) (Table 10). These rates have remained consistent since 2004-05.
• In 2011-12, where ethnic origin of the victim was known, 23% of victims were Pakistani, 22% were White British and 12% were Other white (which includes Gypsy Traveller, Polish White and Other White) (Table 8). These proportions have been changing gradually since 2004-05 when 36% of victims were Pakistani and 17% were White British and 3% were Other white.
• In 2011-12, 40% of perpetrators of racist incidents were aged 20 or under (where age and gender was known). Males were more likely to be a perpetrator of a racist incident (17 per 10,000 population) than females (4 per 10,000 population) (Table 14).
• Where the action taken against the perpetrator was known, 75% of perpetrators in 2011-12 were referred to the Procurator Fiscal or the Scottish Children's Reporter Administration (SCRA) (Table 15), 1 percentage point higher than in 2010-11.