APPENDIX 11
Memorandum submitted by the Commission
for Racial Equality in Scotland
The Commission for Racial Equality in Scotland
welcomes the opportunity to comment to the inquiry into hate crime
in Northern Ireland. The CRE in Scotland has watched with concern
the increased levels of racism being reported in the Northern
Irish press and welcomes the Inquiry as an important step in recognising
ethnic minority communities concerns and fears and developing
effective responses.
RACIAL INCIDENTS
IN SCOTLAND
Over the past eight years racial incidents reported
to the Police in Scotland have risen on average by 15% per annum.
(see Table 1 ).
Racial Incidents Reported to the Police—Scottish
Totals 1996/7—2001/2
|
| Force | 96-97
| 97-98 | 98-99
| 99-00 | 00-01
| 01-02 | 02—03
| 03-04* |
|
| Central Scotland | 133
| 114 | 176
| 184 | 153
| 190 | 189
| 227 |
| Dumfries and Galloway4 | 4
| 1 | 24
| 57 | 54
| 62 | 53
|
| Fife | 33 |
33 | 52
| 186 | 166
| 211 | 271
| 347 |
| Grampian | 37
| 56 | 60
| 103 | 180
| 236 | 317
| 125 |
| Lothian and Borders | 287
| 305 | 341
| 552 | 551
| 594 | 676
| 601 |
| Northern | 0
| 0 | 15
| 25 | 75
| 82 | 98
| 114 |
| Strathclyde | 197
| 461 | 501
| 866 | 1241
| 1495 | 1, 615
| 1, 833 |
| Tayside | 119
| 105 | 125
| 302 | 308
| 254 | 212
| 305 |
| Scottish Total | 810
| 1,078 | 1,271
| 2,242 | 2,731
| 3,116 | 3,607
| 3,605 |
|
* Provisional total.
The exception to the trend is 2003-04 where the total has
remained apparently static. However it should be noted that during
2003-04 Grampian Police introduced a new system for tracking racial
incidents—which was intended to boost reports—but
which had the apparent effect of reducing reports to the Force
by half. The reason for this fall is still being investigated.
The general trend across all Forces remains upwards.
The CRE in Scotland anticipates that this upward trend will
continue as we believe that the actual number of racist incidents
occurring in the community is far higher than that reported to
the Police. Recent research published by the University of Glasgow
examining the Recording of Racial Incidents by Strathclyde Police
(UoG 04) suggests that only 1 : 5 of all racial incidents occurring
in the community are every reported to the Police. This research
also identified trends in and for non reporting:
— 2:5 of reported incidents took place in business
premises (shops takeaways etc);
— the largest victim group were Asian men;
— incidents are most frequent between 3pm-10pm and
often escalate from verbal abuse to threats and/or assault;
— chinese, people, isolated communities, women,
younger people and retail staff were least likely to report incidents;
and
— over 50% of perpetrators were described as youths
or children.
This, most recent, research confirms the findings of earlier
smaller scale victim and community surveys carried out across
Scotland over the past 10 years.
The Strathclyde Police research goes on to identify reasons
for low levels of reporting—which we feel may have relevance
to Northern Ireland's current increase in reported hate crimes.
Many respondents stated that it was not the eventual outcomes
of the case that influenced their satisfaction levels with the
Police (and thus the likelihood of their making future reports)
but the manner in which they were treated by the Police at the
time of reporting, the amount of information they received at
the time of reporting, and the follow-up that then took place.
Other relevant factors in this regard were :
— victims were very sensitive to officers disinterest
in their complaint—many were concerned that the Police would
think they were "playing the race card";
— the most dissatisfied were those aged 35 or younger;
— the fear of a racist reaction from officers was
a powerful factor in non reporting;
— an assumption that younger offenders would not
be effectively dealt was also a factor in non reporting;
— chinese people in particular experienced linguistic
problems when reporting; and
— community officers were rated highly, often on
the basis that they had been known for a long time. Many participants
were unaware that different officers may have different roles.
MEASURES TO
TACKLE PREJUDICE
AND TO
SUPPORT VICTIMS
OF PREJUDICE
The Scottish Executive, Local Authorities, the Police, NHS
and other public sector bodies are bound by the General Duty of
the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 to "promote good
race relations". In the CRE's view the new positive and enforceable
duty is a great improvement on earlier duties placed on such bodies.
The CRE in Scotland has also recently published two assessments
of the degree to which Public Authorities in Scotland have complied
with their new race Duties ("Towards Racial Equality"
and "Fair Enough ?"). In general terms the CRE feels
that the positive good race relations duty is the hardest component
of the general duty for Public Authorities to understand and implement.
The CRE is therefore currently involved in a project which seeks
to define and describe the circumstances in which good race relations
can flourish.
As well as encouraging local partnership, often through Community
Safety partnerships (City of Edinburgh in particular), the Duty
has provided the impetus for the Scottish Executive's One Scotland
campaign. This high profile campaign aims to tackle deep seated
attitudes towards the tacit acceptability of racism but focussing
on the "unintentional" impact on victims. The CRE has
also welcomed the First Ministers condemnation discrimination
and racism in promoting Scotland as a destination of choice for
migrants ("Fresh Talent"). The CRE accepts that attitudinal
shifts in the Scottish population may take time, but if the Executive
is to be successful in its aim it must ensure that the potential
impact of all economic and social policy on race equality is considered
at an early stage of development.
Every local authority in Scotland has a local ethnic minority
presence and as such racism and racial discrimination are issues
for all authorities in Scotland. However it is apparent that outside
the Central Belt there are few if any resources available to ethnic
minorities, or people whose first language is not English, which
might assist them if they are experiencing racism or discrimination.
The CRE in Scotland would welcome the development of a consistent
and coherent strategy for rural and small town Scotland which
aims to meet the needs of Scotland's dispersed and varied ethnic
minority communities. Whilst this is an area which remains largely
unexplored De Lima (CRE 02) and others suggest that the notion
of ethnic minority communities in rural Scotland may be in itself
wrong—in actuality many people live in isolation from each
with no religious, cultural or social settings available to them
which might foster a sense of community. The impact of racism
or discrimination on such isolated individuals is therefore magnified.
THE EFFECTIVENESS
OF THE
EXISTING LAW
AND PROPOSED
CHANGES TO
THE LAW
In recent years the Scottish Executive has extended the law
to introduce a new racial aggravation charge which is available
to the Police and Procurator Fiscal. Early reports suggest that
the new aggravated charge is being used although the extent to
which it is successfully deployed is hard to ascertain because
the Crown Office has failed to publish statistics on its implementation.
If any new such charge is to be introduced in Northern Ireland
the CRE would encourage the Committee to consider placing a positive
duty on the prosecution services to publish annual data about
its usage. A similar extension of the law to cover religious aggravation
has also been recently introduced and to date the CRE is aware
of 262 referrals from the Police to the Procurator Fiscal within
the first nine months of its operation. The extent to which this
reflects peoples experience of religious harassment or the degree
to which the charges are being brought successfully is unclear.
The Committee will also be aware of the work of the Scottish
Executive's Working Group on hate Crimes which includes representatives
of Scotland's minority communities. This Groups work is described
in the recent consultation on the future of hate crime legislation
in Scotland (seehttp://www.scotland.gov.uk/about/JD/CJ/00017915/page1351545971.pdf).
The report usefully describes a range of actions that the Executive
has supported, including extensive work in victim support and
the promotion of positive messages about tolerance. The primary
are which the CRE feels is still requiring significant attention
is rehabilitative work with offenders and perpetrators of hate
crimes.
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