The Scottish Government

RACIST CRIME AND VICTIMISATION IN SCOTLAND

Ian Clark and Susan Moody

Department of Law, University of Dundee

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CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
Aims of the research project
Background to the project
Previous research on racist crime
Research methods used in the project
Structure of the report
CHAPTER 2 DEFINING RACIST CRIME
Findings
Identifying racist crime
Differences between racist incidents and racist crime
Value of the racist crime offences
Downplaying the cumulative effect of racist crime
'Unintentional' racism
Symmetrical effect of legislation
Nature of racist crime
Key issues and recommendations
CHAPTER 3 REPORTING AND RECORDING
RACIST CRIME
Findings
Number of racist incidents
Reasons for victims not reporting incidents
Attitudes towards remote reporting
Police practice in recording racist incidents and crimes
Key issues and recommendations
CHAPTER 4 INVESTIGATING RACIST CRIME
Findings
Priority given to racist crime cases
Cultural factors
Feedback to complainers
Multi-agency groups
Police racist incident monitoring forms
Police reports to Procurators Fiscal
Management of cases
Police General Orders or Force Bulletins
Key issues and recommendations
CHAPTER 5 PROSECUTING RACIST CRIME
Findings
A major policy issue for the Procurator Fiscal Service
Problems with the legislation
Management of racist crime cases
Language and cultural issues
Lack of feedback to and support for victims
Key issues and recommendations
CHAPTER 6 DEALING WITH RACIST
CRIME IN COURT
Findings
Victims' experiences of court proceedings and knowledge of perpetrators
Outcomes of court cases
Convictions and acquittals
Previous convictions
Offences reported against young persons aged 16 or under
Sheriffs' views on the new statutory racist offences
Key issues and recommendations
CHAPTER 7 REACHING AND SUPPORTING
VICTIMS OF CRIME
Findings
Reaching racist crime victims for research purposes
Gaps in the provision of services to racist crime victims
Models of support for racist crime victims
Key issues and recommendations
CHAPTER 8 CONCLUSIONS
Dealing effectively with racist crime
Legal issues
Monitoring issues
Support issues
Publicity issues
Researching racist crime and racist incidents
Hope for future developments
APPENDIX A
APPENDIX B
APPENDIX C
APPENDIX D
APPENDIX E
APPENDIX F
APPENDIX G
APPENDIX H