Hate crime strategy: easy read version

Aim 1

Victims of hate crime are treated with fairness, understanding and care and in a trauma-informed manner.

Their safety and recovery is the most important thing.

Trauma is the emotions you feel when something terrible has happened like a bad or frightening event.

Trauma informed means that they understand how trauma:

• can make victims feel
• can make victims behave

Experiencing a hate crime or seeing a hate crime happen can be a traumatic experience.

We want everyone to be treated in a way that is trauma-informed.

We want to make sure that people know how to report a hate crime and how to get the right support.

Commitment 1

We will continue to ask all our communities and stakeholders what they think to make sure that the Police Scotland response to hate crime is both consistent and effective.

When we use the word communities in this plan we mean both:

• people who live in the local area
• people who are part of a group like a religious group or different age groups

Commitment 2

We will regularly check our work to make sure it deals with what makes reporting hate crime difficult.

Commitment 3

We will check and change third-party reporting arrangements to make reporting hate crime easier.

Commitment 4

We will work to make sure support for victims of hate crime is person-centred and trauma-informed.

Person-centred means listening to what a person wants and needs and having them at the centre of decisions that are made about them.

Commitment 5

We will have guidance and training across Scotland for police, justice organisations and the courts to make sure staff know how to use the new Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021.