Racist Incidents Recorded by the Police in Scotland, 2012-13

2. Main Points

• There were 4,628 racist incidents recorded by the police in 2012-13, a decrease of 14% compared to 2011-12 when 5,389 incidents were recorded. The number of incidents recorded in 2011-12 was particularly high compared to figures for previous years, possibly due to increased awareness and reporting of racist incidents following several incidents which received significant media attention during the year. The decrease in incidents recorded in 2012-13 is more in line with the generally downward trend seen since 2006-07. (Table 1).
• In 2012-13, 96% of racist incidents recorded by the police resulted in one or more crimes being recorded. A total of 5,228 crimes were recorded as part of racist incidents in 2012-13, a 19% decrease on the 6,472 crimes recorded in 2011-12.
• There was a 71% clear up rate on crimes recorded as part of a racist incident. This is a three percentage point increase on the 2011-12 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 in 2012-13 were racially aggravated conduct (52%), breach of the peace etc. (25%) and common assault (12%). (Table 7a).
• In 2012-13, 32% of all racist incidents recorded by the police occurred on the street, while 22% took place in a dwelling house and a further 17% in a shop (calculations exclude 47 incidents where location was unknown) (Table 3).
• Of those who were victims/complainers of a racist incident in 2012-13, 36% were aged 26 to 35 years, compared to 12% who were aged 20 or under (where age and gender were known, 5,034 victims/complainers). Males were more likely to be a victim/complainer of a racist incident (14 per 10,000 population) than females (5 per 10,000 population) (Table 10).
• In 2012-13, where broader ethnic group of the victim/complainer was known (5,004 victims/complainers), Pakistani and White British victims/complainers each accounted for 23% of victims/complainers. Seven of the eight police force areas were able to provide a more detailed breakdown of ethnic group, and in these police force areas Pakistani (19%), Other White (16%) and White Scottish (13%) were the largest groups of victims/complainers of racist incidents in 2012-13. All police forces with the exception of Strathclyde, which accounts for 45% of victims/complainers, were able to provide the data at the more detailed level. (Table 8a).
• In 2012-13, 37% of perpetrators of racist incidents were aged 20 or under (where age and gender were known, 4,269 perpetrators). Males were more likely to be a perpetrator of a racist incident (13 per 10,000 population) than females (4 per 10,000 population) (Table 14).
• Where the action taken by the police against the perpetrator was known (3,243 perpetrators), 79% of perpetrators in 2012-13 were referred to the Procurator Fiscal or the Scottish Children's Reporter Administration (SCRA), 4 percentage points higher than in 2011-12 (Table 15).