Characteristics of police recorded hate crime in Scotland: study

This report presents the findings of a study into the nature of police recorded hate aggravated crimes in Scotland. This includes new details on the characteristics of these cases, based on a random sample of police recorded crimes.


Tables

Notes for tables

Please note:

  • '*' indicates a value of less than 5, 0.5% or 0.5 per 10,000 population (or based on a figure less than 5) but greater than zero.
  • Where no records were found a dash (-) has been used to signify this.
  • All figures for percentages and rates are rounded to the nearest whole number
  • Totals may not sum to 100% due to rounding
Table 4. Number of hate crimes recorded by the police, by local authority, 2014-15 to 2019-20
Number
Local Authority 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20
Scotland 7,029 6,786 6,577 6,736 6,327 6,448
Aberdeen City 315 302 259 258 241 277
Aberdeenshire 82 55 83 108 107 117
Angus 73 71 56 88 79 77
Argyll & Bute 49 37 55 50 36 34
City of Edinburgh 1,422 1,320 1,324 1,343 1,247 1,209
Clackmannanshire 63 82 73 62 66 85
Dumfries & Galloway 121 97 69 98 112 96
Dundee City 171 192 142 169 190 280
East Ayrshire 110 98 84 106 104 110
East Dunbartonshire 63 61 67 65 61 63
East Lothian 73 48 61 78 65 95
East Renfrewshire 79 51 88 62 41 47
Na h-Eileanan Siar 5 8 7 4 4 14
Falkirk 219 198 199 203 258 271
Fife 392 436 379 398 381 363
Glasgow City 1,857 1,747 1,865 1,867 1,576 1,574
Highland 134 128 76 105 123 75
Inverclyde 64 67 79 69 58 79
Midlothian 93 86 96 79 96 86
Moray 31 25 41 50 59 64
North Ayrshire 140 139 115 109 141 135
North Lanarkshire 306 333 281 293 280 310
Orkney Islands 5 9 4 4 2 2
Perth and Kinross 101 92 78 72 69 85
Renfrewshire 192 233 187 178 159 152
Scottish Borders 65 77 56 40 61 80
Shetland Islands 10 8 4 1 8 1
South Ayrshire 82 89 68 84 101 71
South Lanarkshire 264 263 242 269 237 254
Stirling 116 140 125 118 94 111
West Dunbartonshire 73 100 81 58 64 58
West Lothian 259 194 233 248 207 173

Table 5. Rate per 10,000 of hate crimes recorded by the police, by local authority, 2014-15 to 2019-20
Rate per 10,000
Local Authority 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20
Scotland 13 13 12 12 12 12
Aberdeen City 14 13 11 11 11 12
Aberdeenshire 3 2 3 4 4 4
Angus 6 6 5 8 7 7
Argyll & Bute 6 4 6 6 4 4
City of Edinburgh 29 26 26 26 24 23
Clackmannanshire 12 16 14 12 13 16
Dumfries & Galloway 8 6 5 7 8 6
Dundee City 12 13 10 11 13 19
East Ayrshire 9 8 7 9 9 9
East Dunbartonshire 6 6 6 6 6 6
East Lothian 7 5 6 7 6 9
East Renfrewshire 9 5 9 7 4 5
Na h-Eileanan Siar 2 3 3 1 1 5
Falkirk 14 12 12 13 16 17
Fife 11 12 10 11 10 10
Glasgow City 31 29 30 30 25 25
Highland 6 5 3 4 5 3
Inverclyde 8 8 10 9 7 10
Midlothian 11 10 11 9 11 9
Moray 3 3 4 5 6 7
North Ayrshire 10 10 8 8 10 10
North Lanarkshire 9 10 8 9 8 9
Orkney Islands 2 4 2 2 1 1
Perth and Kinross 7 6 5 5 5 6
Renfrewshire 11 13 11 10 9 8
Scottish Borders 6 7 5 3 5 7
Shetland Islands 4 3 2 0 3 0
South Ayrshire 7 8 6 7 9 6
South Lanarkshire 8 8 8 8 7 8
Stirling 13 15 13 13 10 12
West Dunbartonshire 8 11 9 6 7 7
West Lothian 15 11 13 14 11 9
Table 6. Hate crimes recorded by the police, by aggravator, 2014-15 to 2019-20
Aggravator 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20
Number % Number % Number % Number % Number % Number %
Total 7,029 100 6,786 100 6,577 100 6,736 100 6,327 100 6,448 100
Disability 244 3 239 4 235 4 274 4 260 4 267 4
Race 4,967 71 4,666 69 4,435 67 4,491 67 4,086 65 3,969 62
Religion 520 7 521 8 504 8 504 7 452 7 501 8
Sexual Orientation 1,010 14 1,020 15 1,025 16 1,085 16 1,209 19 1,314 20
Transgender Identity 48 1 45 1 61 1 59 1 87 1 96 1
Multiple aggravators 240 3 295 4 317 5 323 5 233 4 301 5
Race & Religion 134 2 153 2 154 2 160 2 82 1 80 1
Other (incl. Race or Religion) 94 1 126 2 134 2 138 2 116 2 173 3
Other (excl. Race or Religion) 12 0 16 0 29 0 25 0 35 1 48 1
Table 7. Hate crimes recorded by the police, by type of crime, 2014-15 to 2019-20
Crime/Offence Type 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20
Number Number Number Number Number Number %
Total 7,029 6,786 6,577 6,736 6,327 6,448 100
Crimes of violence and sexual crimes 153 92 106 143 137 127 2
Crimes of dishonesty 34 31 41 41 35 27 0
Vandalism, fire-raising etc. - of which 290 259 247 250 197 215 3
Vandalism etc. 286 253 240 243 195 209 3
Fire-raising 4 6 7 7 2 6 0
Other crimes 43 35 38 55 76 56 1
Offences - of which: 6,316 6,161 6,144 6,215 5,881 6,022 93
Common assault 822 714 828 886 786 752 12
Threatening or abusive behaviour 2,432 2,772 2,939 3,031 3,086 3,301 51
Breach of the peace etc. 190 138 103 107 56 81 1
Racially aggravated harassment 249 187 178 216 375 409 6
Racially aggravated conduct 2,196 1,904 1,668 1,561 1,134 1,054 16
Communications Act 2003 offences 377 406 375 364 418 412 6
Other offences 50 40 53 50 26 13 0
Unknown crimes 193 208 1 32 1 1 0
Table 8. Proportion of victims 1 where the crime occurred at their place of work, by hate aggravator
Disability Race Religion Sexual orientation Transgender identity Total2
Victim not working 93% 59% 71% 77% 92% 65%
Victim working 7% 41% 28% 21% 8% 34%
Retail and other service industries * 31% 11% 11% 5% 24%
Other industries3 5% 10% 16% 11% * 10%
Unknown - * * * - 1%
Number sampled4 224 777 160 214 92 1,527

1. Including only crimes where the victim was not a police officer in the line of duty, a business or organisation.
2. Includes all hate aggravators and calculated using weighted values as discussed in the Discussion of relative sample weights for summary analysis section.
3. Includes victims working in Education, Health, Prison, Other emergency services and Public transport
4. Excludes those cases discussed in the Records excluded from the analysis section.

Table 9. Gender and median age of victims 1, by hate aggravator
Disability Race Religion Sexual orientation Transgender identity Total2
Male or all male group 50% 64% 57% 68% 37% 63%
Female or all female group 49% 30% 38% 26% 55% 32%
Mixed group * 5% 4% 5% * 4%
Other / Unknown - 1% - - 5% 1%
Median age 35 36 38 30 26 35
Number sampled3 224 777 160 214 92 1,527

1. Including only crimes where the victim was not a police officer in the line of duty, a business or organization.
2. Includes all hate aggravators and calculated using weighted values as discussed in the Discussion of relative sample weights for summary analysis section.
3. Excludes those cases discussed in the Records excluded from the analysis section.

Table 10. The relationship between the victim 1 and perpetrator, by hate aggravator
Disability Race Religion Sexual orientation Transgender identity Total2
Partner / ex-partner 6% 2% 6% 4% * 3%
Family3 4% 1% 3% * * 1%
Acquaintance4 56% 34% 29% 43% 46% 37%
Professional5 7% 6% 4% 7% * 6%
Stranger 21% 52% 49% 39% 34% 48%
Unknown 6% 5% 8% 6% 11% 5%
Number sampled6 224 777 160 214 92 1,527

1. Including only crimes where the victim was not a police officer in the line of duty, or a business or organization.
2. Includes all hate aggravators and calculated using weighted values as discussed in the Discussion of relative sample weights for summary analysis section.
3. Includes members of the same family, excluding partners and ex-partners.
4. Includes where the victim has a prior relationship with the perpetrator but are not family members, partners or ex-partners, such as friends, neighbours, work colleagues and classmates.
5. Including where the victim has a professional relationship with the perpetrator such as a social worker or teacher.
6. Excludes those cases discussed in the Records excluded from the analysis section

Table 11. Location of the crime, by hate aggravator
Non-police officer victims1 Police officer victims2
Disability Race Religion Sexual orientation Transgender identity Total2
Dwelling 28% 19% 22% 26% 17% 20% 10%
Open space 28% 35% 33% 29% 35% 34% 25%
Public Sector 14% 7% 7% 9% 5% 7% 10%
Public Transport 4% 3% * 6% * 3% *
Remote3 17% 9% 14% 13% 28% 11% 2%
Retail and hospitality 6% 26% 15% 15% 10% 22% 3%
Police Facility - * - - - * 49%
Other4 / Unknown 3% 2% 7% * * 2% -
Number sampled5 225 794 189 215 92 1,571 367

1. Including only crimes where the victim was not a police officer in the line of duty.
2. Includes all hate aggravators and calculated using weighted values as discussed in the Discussion of relative sample weights for summary analysis section.
3. Remote includes cases where the victim and perpetrator where not in the same location (including the use of phone calls and cyber-enabled technologies).
4. Includes leisure or community centres, places of worship, sporting venues and other businesses
5. Excludes those cases discussed in the Records excluded from the analysis section.

Table 12. Proportion of crimes 1 that were cyber-enabled, by hate aggravator
Disability Race Religion Sexual orientation Transgender identity Total2
Cyber-enabled 12% 6% 8% 9% 27% 7%
Not cyber-enabled 88% 94% 92% 91% 73% 93%
Number sampled3 225 794 189 215 92 1,571

1. Including only crimes where the victim was not a police officer in the line of duty.
2. Includes all hate aggravators and calculated using weighted values as discussed in the Discussion of relative sample weights for summary analysis section.
3. Excludes those cases discussed in the Records excluded from the analysis section.

Table 13. How the crime 1 was reported to the police, by hate aggravator
Disability Race Religion Sexual orientation Transgender identity Total2
Total victim reported 79% 85% 69% 85% 85% 84%
Victim 64% 76% 65% 69% 75% 74%
On behalf of victim3 15% 9% 4% 16% 10% 10%
Witness 16% 11% 24% 10% 7% 12%
Police on patrol or dealing with another incident * 2% 6% 2% * 2%
Perpetrator * 1% * * * 1%
Other / Unknown 3% 1% * 2% 7% 1%
Number sampled4 225 794 189 215 92 1,571

1. Including only crimes where the victim was not a police officer in the line of duty.
2. Includes all hate aggravators and calculated using weighted values as discussed in the Discussion of relative sample weights for summary analysis section.
3. Includes parents, teachers, carers and employers.
4. Excludes those cases discussed in the Records excluded from the analysis section.

Table 14. Gender and median age of perpetrators 1, by hate aggravator
Non-police officer victims2 Police officer victims3
Disability Race Religion Sexual orientation Transgender identity Total3
Male or all male group 67% 71% 85% 81% 76% 73% 87%
Female or all female group 31% 27% 14% 18% 21% 25% 12%
Mixed group * 2% * * * 2% *
Unknown - * - - - * *
Median age 20 30 39 29 22 30 28
Number sampled4 196 596 124 162 68 1,174 365

1. Including only crimes where a perpetrator was identified.
2. Including only crimes where the victim was not a police officer in the line of duty.
3. Includes all hate aggravators and calculated using weighted values as discussed in the Discussion of relative sample weights for summary analysis section.
4. Excludes those cases discussed in the Records excluded from the analysis section.

Table 15. Ethnicity of victims, by hate aggravator1
Percentage
Disability hate crimes
White Scottish 80%
Other White British 14%
All other ethnicity groups 5%
Religion hate crimes
White Scottish 58%
Other Ethnic Group 7%
Other White British 6%
Other White 5%
Pakistani, Pakistani Scottish or Pakistani British 5%
Arab, Arab Scottish or Arab British 5%
All other ethnicity groups 14%
Sexual orientation hate crimes
White Scottish 75%
Other White British 13%
Other White 6%
All other ethnicity groups 6%
Transgender hate crimes
White Scottish 64%
Other White British 29%
Other White 4%
All other ethnicity groups 2%

1. Information on the ethnicity of victims for racially aggravated hate crimes is provided in Table 18.

Table 16. Ethnicity of perpetrators 1, by hate aggravator 2
Percentage
Disability hate crimes
White Scottish 79%
Other White British 14%
All other groups 7%
Religion hate crimes
White Scottish 82%
Other White British 8%
All other ethnicity groups 10%
Sexual orientation hate crimes
White Scottish 83%
Other White British 9%
All other ethnicity groups 8%
Transgender hate crimes
White Scottish 76%
Other White British 19%
All other ethnicity groups 5%

1. Including only crimes where a perpetrator was identified.
2. Information on the ethnicity of perpetrators for racially aggravated hate crimes is provided in Table 18.

Table 17. What prejudices were shown by perpetrators, by hate aggravator
Percentage
Disability hate crimes (n=225)
Learning disability 59%
Physical disability 21%
Unspecified disability 17%
Race hate crimes (n=794)
Black 35%
Pakistani 26%
Polish 7%
English 6%
Chinese 3%
White 3%
Gypsy / Traveller 2%
Other East Europe countries 2%
General xenophobia 15%
Unspecified race 4%
Religion hate crimes (n=189)
Catholicism 42%
Islam 26%
Protestantism 12%
Judaism 7%
Sexual orientation hate crimes (n=215)
Gay 69%
Lesbian 25%
Other sexual orientation 3%
Transgender hate crimes (n=92)
Transgender community 85%
Table 18. Ethnicity of victims and perpetrators and estimated volume of crimes for racially aggravated hate crimes
Victims1 Perpetrators2
Ethnicity category Proportion (%) Estimated volume Proportion (%) Estimated volume
White Scottish 10% 320 78% 2,160
Other White British 7% 230 11% 310
White Irish 2% 60 2% 40
Gypsy / Traveller * * - -
White Polish 8% 240 1% 40
Other White 8% 230 1% 20
Mixed or multiple ethnic group 3% 90 * *
Pakistani, Pakistani Scottish or Pakistani British 18% 580 1% 20
Indian, Indian Scottish or Indian British 6% 190 * *
Bangladeshi, Bangladeshi Scottish or Bangladeshi British 1% 40 - -
Chinese, Chinese Scottish or Chinese British 2% 60 - -
Other Asian 9% 290 1% 20
African, African Scottish or African British 12% 380 2% 60
Other African * * - -
Caribbean, Caribbean Scottish or Caribbean British * * - -
Black, Black Scottish or Black British 2% 60 * *
Other Caribbean or Black 2% 50 * *
Arab, Arab Scottish or Arab British 3% 110 * *
Other Ethnic Group 4% 120 1% 30

1. Including only crimes where the victim was not a police officer in the line of duty, or a business or organisation.
2. Including only crimes where a perpetrator was identified.

Contact

Email: JusticeAnalysts@gov.scot

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