Racist Incidents Recorded by the Police in Scotland, 2013-14

This bulletin presents statistics on racist incidents recorded by Police Scotland in 2013-14.

Racist incidents reported to the police may involve one or more victims/complainers, one or more perpetrators, and may result in one or more crimes or offences being recorded.

The definition of a racist incident used by Police Scotland is as given by Sir William MacPherson in his 1999 report on the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry:

'A racist incident is any incident which is perceived to be racist by the victim or any other person.'

In line with the definition above, the victim/complainer may not necessarily be the person at whom the racially aggravated behaviour was targeted. The term 'victim/complainer' has been used throughout this bulletin to reflect the fact that a victim or any other person can perceive an incident to be racist.