High Level Summary of Statistics Trend Last update: Thursday, May 15, 2008
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."
The total number of incidents recorded by the police in Scotland rose by 13 per cent from 2004/05 to 2005/06 (from 4,536 to 5,124), with a similar rate of increase in the number of crimes recorded (12 per cent, from 5,732 to 6,438).
Source: Justice Analytical Services
Note (1): Central Scotland Police have a robust system in place for recording and monitoring racist incidents. However, due to changes to their recording systems between 2003/04 and 2004/05, they were unable to supply the detailed information requested for 2003/04.
Note (2): It is important to note that these statistics cover only incidents reported to the police, not all racist incidents.
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