RACIST CRIME AND VICTIMISATION IN SCOTLAND
Footnotes
1 This was because the existing data on these cases do not record that they were racially aggravated.
2 This was subsequently changed to 'racist crime'.
3 See Appendix A for the full text of these provisions.
4 Report of an Inquiry by Sir William Macpherson of Cluny, Cm 4262-1.
5 Defined in the Lawrence Report as 'the collective failure of an organisation to provide an appropriate and professional service to people because of their colour, culture or ethnic origin', para. 6.34.
6 It has been criticised for not setting timescales for the implementation of improvements.
7 Working Together For Equality, Scottish Executive, 2000.
8 Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland, Racial Diversity: Guidance Manual for the Scottish Police Service, Grampian Police, 2000.
9 Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary, Without Prejudice? A Thematic Inspection of Police Race Relations in Scotland, HMIC, Edinburgh, 2001.
10 See Chapter 7 for a description of a project supporting asylum seekers who are racist crime victims.
11 Bowes, McCluskey and Sim, 'Racism and harassment of Asians in Glasgow', Ethnic and Racial Studies 13(1), 1990, pp. 71-91.
12 Netto and MacEwen, Countering Racial Harassment through Co-ordinated Action: A Strategic Review of Policies and Procedures in Edinburgh, Scottish Office Central Research Unit, 1998.
13 Hampton, Youth and Racism: Perceptions and Experiences of Young People in Glasgow, Scottish Ethnic Minorities Research Unit/Glasgow City Council, 1998.
14 Wardak, Social Control and Deviance: A South Asian Community in Scotland, Ashgate, 2000.
15 See Researching Ethnic Minorities in Scotland: Report of a Workshop held on 2 March 2000, Scottish Executive, Edinburgh, 2000.
16 'Racism and discrimination' was not the sole focus of the workshop. The other main themes were 'access to services', 'social exclusion and poverty' and 'the needs of specific groups'.
17 Hesse, Rai, Bennett and McGilchrist, Beneath the Surface: Racial Harassment, Avebury, 1992.
18 Virdee, 'Racial harassment' in Modood and Berthoud (eds), Ethnic Minorities in Britain: Diversity and Disadvantage: The Fourth National Survey of Ethnic Minorities in England and Wales, Policy Studies Institute, 1997.
19 Bowling, Violent Racism: Victimisation, Policing and Social Context, Clarendon Studies in Criminology, Oxford University Press, 1998.
20 Sibbett, The Perpetrators of Racial Harassment and Racial Violence, Home Office Research Study 176, Home Office Research and Statistics Directorate, 1997.
21 See Phillips and Sampson, 'Preventing Repeated Racial Victimisation: An Action Research Project', British Journal of Criminology 38(1), 1998, pp. 124-144.
22 Ms Dar is currently Policy and Practice Co-ordinator for Scottish Homes. She was formerly a researcher at Stirling University and the Race Equality Officer for the Glasgow Council for the Voluntary Sector.
23 See Appendix B for membership.
24 See The Stephen Lawrence Inquiry: An Action Plan for Scotland: Review by the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry Steering Group, Scottish Executive, February 2001.
25 The sample included 27 individuals with a particular expertise in this area, seven of whom returned questionnaires.
26 The six RPFs have responsibility for monitoring the work of local prosecutors (Procurators Fiscal) in their region and may provide training and advice to local Procurator Fiscal Offices.
27 Sheriffs are legally qualified, salaried judges who hear cases in the Sheriff Courts in Scotland.
28 See Appendix A for these provisions.
29 The Scottish Executive has a statutory duty under section 306 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 to provide information on race in the criminal justice system for the purposes of avoiding discrimination.
30 The Lord Advocate is the Chief Law Officer in Scotland and is a member of the Scottish Executive.
31 See Chapter 4 for an analysis of Racist Incident Monitoring Forms.
32 Section 33 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 inserted a new section 50A into the Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995.
33 See Chapter 4 for further discussion of multi-agency groups.
34 The primary aim of such referrals is the welfare of the child, rather than punishment, although children with behavioural problems who are deemed 'out of control' or 'at risk' may be placed under supervision, sometimes in secure accommodation, in the care of a local authority.
35 The Scottish Children's Reporter Administration (SCRA) - the agency that oversees the network of Reporters and Children's Panels throughout Scotland - does not collect statistics specifically on racist incidents involving children or young people referred to it. We were told by SCRA that racist incidents were not the subject of any specific procedures and that Reporters were not given particular guidance on dealing with such referrals. It was therefore decided not to include them in our research, although some limited data on referrals to Reporters and Children's Panels was extracted from the Scottish Criminal Records Office database and is summarised in Chapter 6. In due course the SCRA Referral Administration Database will link up with ISCJIS, which should facilitate systematic recording of racist incidents.
36 At present statistics do not include section 96 cases so they do not cover all incidents of racist crime.
37 See Chapter 1 and Appendix C for references to research on racist crime.
38 Under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997, section 8.
39 See the definition contained in the Crime and Disorder Act 1998: 'a group of persons defined by reference to colour, race, nationality or ethnic or national origins'. This is identical to the definition contained in the Race Relations Act 1976.
40 Crown Office is the headquarters of the Procurator Fiscal Service.
41 These incidents were usually counter allegations involving groups of young people.
42 See BBC Scotland v. Souster 2001 SC 548.
43 See Chapter 3 for the key findings from the questionnaire survey.
44 Now called Public Performance Reports in some forces.
45 Since October 1998, when the new statutory racist crimes came into effect.
46 Police forces in Scotland are independent of one another. Some forces may introduce provisional policies whilst others may prefer to wait until a common approach has been agreed at a national level, for example by ACPOS.
47 See Chapter 1 and Appendix C for the main studies.
48 See Chapter 1 for sampling criteria and response rates and Appendix D for the questionnaire.
49 ACPOS, Racial Diversity: Guidance Manual for the Scottish Police Service, 2001, p. 3.
50 Some of the more recent Chief Constables' Annual Reports acknowledge that racist incident figures differ from those published in the HMIC thematic report. Tables E.1-E.8 in Appendix E show when seven of the eight forces made changes to their recording practices.
51 The Home Office Code of Practice on reporting and recording racist incidents (April 2000) provides guidance and models that may be used or adapted in Scotland. However, it does not refer to the possibility of several elements making up an incident, or how these should be recorded.
52 Three months after the new statutory racist offences came into effect.
53 The police do not systematically receive feedback from Procurators Fiscal on amended charges.
54 The Scottish Executive's response to the Lawrence Report - see Chapter 1.
55 ACPOS Racial Diversity Strategy, Grampian Police, 2001, p. 2.
56 ACPOS Racial Diversity Guidance Manual for the Scottish Police Service, Grampian Police 2001, p. 2.
57 Successive crime survey results and research into victim satisfaction have shown that the complaint about not keeping people informed of progress is not only restricted to racist incidents.
58 Multi-Agency Partnership, Race Relations Action Group, Multi-Agency Racial Incident Meeting, Racial Abuse and Harassment Multi-Agency Scheme, Black and Ethnic Minority Community Safety Group.
59 Home Office, Guidance on the Data Protection Act for non-criminal justice agencies involved in racist incident reporting, Home Office, May 2000.
60 At least two of these are based on the model developed by RAHMAS. Another force has a Racist Incident Report, which records details of the incident, and a separate Racist Incident Action Form which records how the police responded to the report.
61 Including accused details, charges, narrative of what happened and witness details.
62 Whilst the police may indicate in such reports the basis on which the accused has been charged, decisions about whether to prosecute and which charges should appear in an indictment or complaint are made by the Procurator Fiscal.
63 In one report, the offender had referred to an Indian victim as a 'Paki'.
64 E.g. checking CCTV recordings or visiting the victim.
65 Three Community Safety Departments, an Executive Support Department, a Community Development Department, a Community Involvement Department, a Corporate Services Department, and a Diversity Unit.
66 This drawback was also noted in the HMIC thematic report.
67 E.g. attendance at conferences, visits to minority ethnic organisations and hosting multi-cultural social events.
68 The one we have seen, entitled You Have Reported a Racial Incident, impressed us as an example of good practice.
69 The Scottish prosecution service is divided into six regions, some of which cover more than one police force area.
70 Fife Racial Equality Council, 22 March 2000, Kirkcaldy.
71 It was not possible for us to confirm whether Crown Office policy is always followed in relation to the acceptance of not guilty pleas in racist crime cases. A plea of 'Not Guilty' was accepted in about 7% of our sample of prosecution and court records and reasons for this decision were given on the file in just under half of these cases. For further discussion of case outcomes, see chapter 6.
72 The copy complaints in the court and prosecution records were consistent in terms of style, with racially aggravated behaviour charges normally framed as 'you did act in a racially aggravated manner which caused, or was intended to cause, alarm and distress to Mr A…' The remainder of the charge specified the behaviour, often including 'utter racist remarks' and 'threaten him with violence'.
73 In 29 cases of the court and prosecution case records we inspected it was possible to compare charges in police reports with charges in the complaint. In 22 of these cases the Procurator Fiscal had substituted the new section 50A charges for common law or Public Order Act charges.
74 See Northern Police Board v. Power [1997] IRLR 610 , BBC Scotland v. Souster 2001 SC 548.
75 See Logan v. Jessop 1987 SCCR 604, Cavanagh v. Wilson 1995 SCCR 693, Grogan v. Heywood 1999 SCCR 705.
76 See R v. Jacobs 2001 TLR 908.
77 See Chapter 6 for further analysis.
78 The Review noted the problems that may arise if Procurators Fiscal are not made aware by the police of the need for an interpreter. In one case a complaint has been brought against the police by a complainer who was not offered an interpreter.
79 See Luedicke, Delkasam and Koc v. Germany (1979-80) 2 EHRR 149. This right is designed to protect those accused of crimes. It may also cover situations where witnesses are unable to give their evidence satisfactorily because of language difficulties since this could make it more difficult for the accused to defend him or herself.
80 MVA Consultancy, Foreign Language Interpreters in the Scottish Criminal Courts, Scottish Office Central Research Unit, Edinburgh, 1996, p. iv.
81 Two Procurator Fiscal Offices, in Aberdeen and Hamilton, have been designated as Victim Liaison Office (VLO) pilot sites. Crown Office intends to establish a VLO in every region by Spring 2002. VLO staff keep certain victims routinely informed about the progress of their case. These include the more serious cases and cases involving children or vulnerable victims.
82 Provided by the Scottish Executive Justice Statistics Unit (JSU), abstracted from the Scottish Criminal Records Office database.
83 These are shown in full in Appendix H. It should be remembered that statistics of this nature are essentially a snapshot picture showing the number of cases completed at a given time, and the number of cases disposed of in each of the two years is unlikely to match the number of cases started in each year. Even if offenders pled guilty at the outset, a series of deferred sentences may mean the case is not disposed of for some considerable time, and there may be cases that originated in 1999 that have still not reached a final disposal. Although the JSU data for the year 2000 are regarded as provisional, it is unlikely that by the time of writing in mid-2001 details of many completed cases will be amended significantly.
84 In 27 of the 35 cases where there were differences the JSU printout contained fewer non-racial supplementary charges than the copy of the complaint in the case records, in seven there was a different number or type of racist charges and in the remaining one the disposal was different.
85 Annual JSU statistics on Criminal Proceedings in Scottish Courts use as the main unit of analysis persons against whom one or more charges have been proved and, where more than one charge has been proved, count the most serious such charge. Such an approach is too restrictive here, as many of the statutory racist offences would be discounted in favour of more serious racially aggravated assault charges under section 96 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998.
86 It is against Crown Office policy to prosecute cases involving racist offences in District Courts, but these two (in separate regions) can probably be regarded as aberrations that were not picked up by regional monitoring or were in progress and/or completed before monitoring systems were implemented.
87 See Criminal Proceedings in Scottish Courts CrJ/2000/9, Table 6(a).
88 The conviction rate for both offences was considerably better in cases involving single persons accused of racist charges (74% for racially-aggravated behaviour and 90% for racially-aggravated harassment) than in cases involving co-accused facing racist charges (48% for racially-aggravated behaviour and 36% for racially-aggravated harassment).
89 In this latter instance it would seem that the outcome should have been recorded as a formal finding of 'Not Guilty'. It also emerged during interviews with Sheriffs and RPFs that in one region there are often difficulties caused by witnesses failing to respond to citations (and not only in cases involving racist offences), and that on occasion warrants have been issued to compel witnesses to attend.
90 Previous convictions are normally made known to the court by the Procurator Fiscal after an admission or finding of guilt.
91 Examples can be found in the full list of cases in Appendix H.
92 Four accused had previous convictions or pending cases involving racist crime offences.
93 In one case a search for previous convictions could not be undertaken because the accused had given an alias date of birth.
94 A court hearing held before the trial in less serious cases to establish the position of the prosecution and the defence.
95 We understand that funding for this new scheme is presently being negotiated, with the intention that it would be run by SACRO (Safeguarding Communities, Reducing Offending) in partnership with the local authority Social Work Department.
96 The workshop enabled the Executive to publicise a new research programme covering a range of issues affecting people in minority ethnic communities in Scotland. See Researching Ethnic Minorities in Scotland: Report of a Workshop held on 2 March 2000 (2000) Scottish Executive, Edinburgh.
97 For information about developments in England in Wales see Supporting Victims of Racist Crime: Good Practice (2001) Victim Support, London. This report identifies understanding of the impact of racist crime, effective knowledge of local resources, good links with local communities, special training and access to good interpreter services as key issues in offering appropriate support to racist crime victims.
98 VS in England and Wales considers that the 'matching' of volunteers with victims by ethnic group should not be attempted and that there could be equal opportunities implications if such a policy was to be implemented. Supporting Victims of Racist Crime: Good Practice, 2001, at para. 7.4.