Reported Racist Incidents
The definition of a racist incident, as given by Sir William MacPherson in his Report on the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry, is “any incident which is perceived to be racist by the victim or any other person”. This bulletin presents centrally collated statistics on racist incidents that have been recorded using this definition by the eight Scottish police forces.
Any racist incident reported to the police may involve one or more victims, one or more perpetrators, and result in one or more crimes or offences being recorded. This bulletin reports details of all incidents, all crimes or offences associated with each incident, and, where possible, details of the victims and perpetrators. It is also important to note that these statistics only cover incidents reported to the police, not all racist incidents.
This publication presents statistics on racist incidents recorded by the eight Scottish police forces for financial years 2006/07 and 2007/08 along with slightly revised figures relating to previously published information for financial years 2004/05 and 2005/06.
Police Forces are now actively encouraging people to come forward to report racist incidents, either directly or through third party reporting mechanisms, so increases in figures are not necessarily negative but may be due to better recording
The effects of racially motivated crime permeate many aspects of minority ethnic people's lives. The increasing incidence of racial harassment in Scotland needs to be understood against the wider context of inequality and discrimination.
Safety from racial harassment is a key factor influencing minority ethnic people's choice of housing. It also affects the lives of young people in schools, on the streets and in workplaces.
(Source: Statistical Bulletin Crime and Justice Series: Racist Incidents Recorded by the Police in Scotland, 2004/05 to 2007/08 – link opens in a new window)