Racist Incidents Recorded by the Police in Scotland, 2011-12

3. Commentary

The statistics on racist incidents are used to inform National Outcome 9 – 'we live our lives safe from crime, disorder and danger', National Outcome 11 – 'we have strong, resilient and supportive communities where people take responsibility for their own actions and how they affect others', as well as The Strategy for Justice in Scotland.

3.1. Incidents Recorded by the Police (tables 1, and 2 and charts 1 and 2)

• In 2011-12, there was a total of 5,389 racist incidents recorded by the police in Scotland, a 10% increase on the 4,911 racist incidents recorded in 2010-11. This is the first increase in the number of racist incidents recorded by the police in the last five years
• Grampian and Tayside recorded decreases in the number of racist incidents (8% and 5% respectively) between 2010-11 and 2011-12. The other six police forces all recorded an increase over the two year period ranging from 3% in Dumfries and Galloway to 37% in Northern.
• The number of racist incidents, as a rate per 10,000 population, is generally higher in urban areas. In 2011-12, the number of racist incidents recorded per head of population was highest in Glasgow City (25.0 per 10,000 population), followed by City of Edinburgh (20.5 per 10,000 population) and Aberdeen City (19.5 per 10,000 population).
• It should be noted that there are a number of factors that may influence the number of racist incidents recorded by the police. One reason is that police forces work with a range of victim support agencies to encourage reporting of such incidents. Other factors may be an increasing public intolerance of such behaviour, and increased public confidence that reporting such incidents is worthwhile. There have also been improvements in data collection by police forces, while the introduction of centralised call centres has encouraged the reporting of incidents. For example, in 2010-11, Fife attribute the increase in the number of racist incidents recorded in their area, from 2009-10 to 2010-11, to a revamp of their systems supporting the production of the data in April 2010, resulting in a more accurate number of racist incidents being recorded.
• Users of the statistics should note that data on the number of racist incidents recorded in Scotland is only available from 2004-05 onwards.

3.2. Detail of the Incidents (tables 3, 4, 5, and 6, and charts 3 and 4)

• Various details were recorded in relation to each racist incident, such as the location where the incident took place, the date and time of the incident, and whether a crime was recorded as part of the incident.

Chart 2 Racist Incidents recorded by the police per 10,000 population in 2011-12

Chart 3 Location of racist incidents, Scotland, 2011-12

• The most common locations (where known) for an incident in 2011-12 were the street (34%), a dwelling house (19%) and in a shop (17%). Other locations included a pub/ place of entertainment (7%) and restaurant / takeaway (6%).

Chart 4 Racist Incidents by weekday and time, 2004-05 to 2011-12

• In 2011-12, the most common time of year at which racist incidents occurred was during July to September, although this varies from year to year. Just over half of all racist incidents (52%) were recorded between Friday and Sunday, with the remaining 48% spread fairly evenly throughout the other four days of the week. Chart 4 shows that racist incidents peak between 6pm and midnight on every day of the week (Table 5).
• In 2011-12, where the person making the initial report about the incident was known, 69% of incidents were reported to the police by the victim, which is a 4 percentage point decrease on 2010-11. This proportion has been decreasing steadily since 2004-05 where 86% of incidents were reported by the victim. There have been steady increases in the percentage of incidents reported by witnesses (14% in 2011-12 compared to 4% in 2004-05) and the police (11% in 2011-12 compared to 4% in 2004-05). Information for 2009-10 onwards excludes Lothian & Borders, who were unable to provide data on who reported the incident (see note 4.3).

3.3. Crimes Recorded (tables 1, 7a, and 7b)

• In 2011-12, 99% of racist incidents recorded by the police resulted in one or more crimes being recorded.
• There was a total of 6,472 crimes recorded as part of racist incidents recorded in 2011-12, a 5% increase on the 6,173 crimes recorded in 2010-11. This is the first increase in the number of crimes recorded as part of a racist incident since 2007-08.
• In 2011-12, the crime/offence most frequently recorded as part of a racist incident was racially aggravated conduct, which accounted for 57% of all crimes recorded. Other crimes/offences recorded as part of a racist incident included breach of the peace etc. (19%), common assault (12%) and fire-raising / vandalism (5%). In 2011-12, these four crimes and offences account for 93% of all crime and offences recorded as part of a racist incident. Definitions of racially aggravated conduct and racially aggravated harassment are included in note 4.6. Please also note that Minor Assault has been renamed Common Assault, and that Crimes of Indecency have been renamed Sexual Offences.
• Overall, 68% of all crimes recorded by the police as part of a racist incident in 2011-12 were cleared up, up one percentage point from 2010-11. The clear-up rate varies depending on the crime recorded as part of the incident, with 38% of crimes involving fire-raising, vandalism being cleared up in 2011-12, compared to a clear-up rate of 75% for racially aggravated conduct. However, note that there were 325 crimes of fire-raising, vandalism recorded as part of an incident, compared to 3,658 offences of racially aggravated conduct. The clear-up rate for racially aggravated conduct has shown an increase every year since recording began, from the 56% cleared up in 2004-05. The definition of 'cleared-up' can be found in note 4.5.

3.4. Victims of Racist Incidents (tables 8, 10 and 11 and chart 5)

• Where ethnic origin was known, 44% of victims were of Asian origin (that is Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Chinese or Other Asian), the largest group being Pakistani (23%). Based on the 2001 Census figures, the largest minority ethnic group in the Scottish population is Pakistani (note 4.10). The second largest ethnic group of victims of racist incidents in 2011-12 was White British (22%).
• Where age and gender was known, almost three quarters of victims of racist incidents recorded in 2011-12 were male, and this has remained relatively unchanged from previous years. Both males and females are most at risk of being a victim of a racist incidents when aged 26 to 35 years (46 per 10,000 population and 15 per 10,000 population, respectively).

Chart 5 Rate per 10,000 population of victims and perpetrators of racist incidents, by age and gender of victim, Scotland, 2011-12

• In 2011-12, where the number of previous incidents occurring within the previous two years, reported to the police by the victim was known, 75% of victims were doing so for the first time, while 15% of victims had previously reported one or two racist incidents to the police. Note that these percentages were based on those incidents for which previous incident information was known. When recording whether the victim had reported previous racist incidents within the previous two years to the police, it was not always possible to determine the number of incidents previously reported. These have been described as 'unknown' in the table. 'Unknown' will also include victims for whom it was not known if they were a repeat victim or not. Central Scotland police force was unable to provide information for 2010-11 and 2011-12 on the number of previous incidents reported by the victim.

3.5. Perpetrators of Racist Incidents (tables 12, 13, 14 and 15 and chart 5)

• Information about perpetrators of racist incidents may only be fully available where the incident was resolved, and any crime involved has been cleared up (see note 4.5 for definition of cleared up).
• Where information on perpetrators was available, in 2011-12, 95% of perpetrators were of white origin, including White British (83%), White Irish (1%) and Other White (11%) (which includes Gypsy / Traveller and Polish White)
• Where age and gender was known, 40% of perpetrators in 2011-12 were aged 20 or under, with 21% of perpetrators under the age of 16 years, and therefore making them eligible for referral to the Scottish Children's Reporter Administration (SCRA) rather than the Procurator Fiscal.
• Males accounted for 78% of perpetrators of racist incidents recorded by the police in 2011-12. There were 373 perpetrators whose age and/or gender were not recorded and these were not included when calculating the relevant percentages above.
• Perpetrators of a racist incident were more likely to be aged 16 to 20 years for both males (45 per 10,000 population) and females (10 per 10,000 population). This age group has the highest rate per 10,000 population for both males and females in each year covered by the statistical bulletin.

Chart 6 Action taken against perpetrators of Racist Incidents, Scotland, 2011-12

• Where police action taken was known, 75% of perpetrators in 2011-12 were referred to the Procurator Fiscal or SCRA, while 1% received a police warning. No further action was taken against 9% of perpetrators of racist incidents recorded by the police in 2011-11. Information for 2011-12 was based on all forces apart from Lothian & Borders, who were unable to provide data on the police action taken with regard to the perpetrator (see note 4.3).

Table 1 Racist incidents recorded, by police force area, 2004-05 to 2011-12
Number

Police force		2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12
Central	Total Incidents Incidents which involved 1 or more crimes Total Crimes	280 275 402	355 354 571	357 348 525	336 336 522	381 381 566	267 263 404	278 271 337	332 323 403
Dumfries and Galloway	Total Incidents Incidents which involved 1 or more crimes Total Crimes	78 69 85	89 73 91	102 71 95	64 58 58	98 82 95	78 67 74	66 62 69	68 61 64
Fife1	Total Incidents Incidents which involved 1 or more crimes Total Crimes	302 276 464	241 205 355	193 193 271	149 149 218	138 138 187	139 139 177	209 209 260	220 216 252
Grampian	Total Incidents Incidents which involved 1 or more crimes Total Crimes	437 435 701	386 386 674	439 435 877	391 389 735	621 605 1,072	624 621 1,158	629 613 906	577 577 801
Lothian and Borders	Total Incidents Incidents which involved 1 or more crimes Total Crimes	814 814 913	1,292 1,280 1,306	1,521 1,521 1,543	1,391 1,390 1,493	1,112 1,112 1,366	1,158 1,154 1,348	1,083 1,083 1,368	1,337 1,337 1,579
Northern	Total Incidents Incidents which involved 1 or more crimes Total Crimes	123 116 217	128 128 143	123 113 144	140 130 188	138 138 139	89 88 89	78 67 94	107 90 94
Strathclyde	Total Incidents Incidents which involved 1 or more crimes Total Crimes	2,152 1,939 2,620	2,216 2,074 2,900	2,213 2,050 2,823	2,396 2,192 3,082	2,289 2,212 2,824	2,321 2,269 2,896	2,284 2,190 2,812	2,478 2,438 2,969
Tayside	Total Incidents Incidents which involved 1 or more crimes Total Crimes	333 332 332	405 405 404	374 374 376	380 380 380	368 368 368	284 284 324	284 284 327	270 270 310
Scotland	Total Incidents Incidents which involved 1 or more crimes Total Crimes	4,519 4,256 5,734	5,112 4,905 6,444	5,322 5,105 6,654	5,247 5,024 6,676	5,145 5,036 6,617	4,960 4,885 6,470	4,911 4,779 6,173	5,389 5,312 6,472

1. In April 2010, a revamp of the Fife police force systems which supports the production of racist incidents data has resulted in an increased and more accurate number of racist incidents being recorded in 2010-11.

Table 2 Racist incidents recorded, by local authority area, 2004-05 to 2011-12
Number and rate per 10,000 population

	2004-05		2005-06		2006-07		2007-08		2008-09		2009-10		2010-11		2011-12
Local Authority	Number	Rate per 10,000 population1	Number	Rate per 10,000 population1	Number	Rate per 10,000 population1	Number	Rate per 10,000 population1	Number	Rate per 10,000 population1	Number	Rate per 10,000 population1	Number	Rate per 10,000 population1	Number	Rate per 10,000 population1
Aberdeen City	313	15	267	13	309	15	322	15	483	23	451	21	464	21	429	19
Aberdeenshire	86	4	75	3	88	4	31	1	107	4	90	4	90	4	96	4
Angus	46	4	66	6	55	5	50	5	65	6	45	4	49	4	55	5
Argyll & Bute	33	4	25	3	43	5	34	4	25	3	26	3	32	4	45	5
Clackmannanshire	50	10	49	10	58	12	58	12	53	10	41	8	35	7	68	13
Dumfries & Galloway	78	5	89	6	102	7	64	4	98	7	78	5	66	4	68	5
Dundee City	217	15	246	17	242	17	244	17	215	15	160	11	157	11	154	11
East Ayrshire	75	6	67	6	78	7	69	6	71	6	81	7	74	6	70	6
East Dunbartonshire	41	4	33	3	33	3	42	4	38	4	41	4	40	4	31	3
East Lothian	28	3	38	4	64	7	54	6	35	4	35	4	47	5	53	5
East Renfrewshire	48	5	55	6	40	4	33	4	36	4	40	4	43	5	48	5
Edinburgh, City of	599	13	972	21	1,179	25	1,021	22	822	17	898	19	844	17	1,017	21
Eilean Siar	18	7	12	5	8	3	10	4	11	4	6	2	3	1	-	-
Falkirk	160	11	182	12	167	11	171	11	215	14	124	8	152	10	151	10
Fife	302	9	241	7	193	5	149	4	138	4	139	4	209	6	220	6
Glasgow City	1,226	21	1,277	22	1,209	21	1,301	22	1,256	21	1,318	22	1,328	22	1,499	25
Highland	97	5	107	5	107	5	122	6	123	6	81	4	68	3	94	4
Inverclyde	32	4	36	4	31	4	52	6	38	5	20	2	27	3	40	5
Midlothian	52	7	81	10	40	5	65	8	43	5	35	4	46	6	60	7
Moray	38	4	44	5	42	5	38	4	31	4	83	9	75	9	52	6
North Ayrshire	91	7	103	8	102	8	99	7	100	7	92	7	88	7	113	8
North Lanarkshire	181	6	207	6	234	7	282	9	249	8	252	8	220	7	205	6
Orkney Islands	4	2	4	2	3	2	5	3	2	1	2	1	4	2	8	4
Perth & Kinross	70	5	93	7	77	5	86	6	88	6	79	5	78	5	61	4
Renfrewshire	131	8	86	5	130	8	123	7	118	7	122	7	145	9	136	8
Scottish Borders	26	2	43	4	41	4	47	4	46	4	43	4	38	3	27	2
Shetland Islands	4	2	5	2	5	2	3	1	2	1	-	-	3	1	5	2
South Ayrshire	42	4	64	6	45	4	63	6	53	5	77	7	50	4	62	6
South Lanarkshire	162	5	181	6	199	6	212	7	210	7	179	6	168	5	139	4
Stirling	70	8	124	14	132	15	107	12	113	13	102	11	91	10	113	12
West Dunbartonshire	90	10	82	9	69	8	86	9	95	10	73	8	69	8	90	10
West Lothian	109	7	158	10	197	12	204	12	166	10	147	9	108	6	180	10
Scotland	4,519	8.9	5,112	10.0	5,322	10.4	5,247	10.2	5,145	10.0	4,960	9.5	4,911	9.4	5,389	10.3

1. Population data used to calculate these rates are the relevant mid year population estimates prepared by the National Records of Scotland: http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/statistics/theme/population/estimates/mid-year/index.html

Table 3 Racist incidents recorded, by location of incident, 2004-05 to 2011-12
Number and percentage

Location	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-091	2009-102	2010-11	2011-12	% breakdown 2011-12
Dwelling house (including garden)	804	845	1,418	913	895	715	933	997	19
Street	1,396	1,763	1,818	1,626	1,652	1,240	1,623	1,801	34
Shop	1,101	1,145	823	1,121	718	677	834	919	17
Restaurant/Takeaway	388	449	353	389	369	317	390	331	6
Other Business	129	164	122	144	430	116	128	189	4
Public transport/bus stop	51	74	73	88	143	72	95	97	2
School/College	73	71	59	69	65	51	55	77	1
Sporting Venue	17	21	22	24	126	19	32	41	1
Pub/place of public entertainment	143	185	148	214	195	219	271	359	7
Place of Worship	12	28	19	31	13	11	15	21	*
Medical Establishment (e.g. hospital, health centre)	47	61	50	59	58	49	72	90	2
Other	358	305	417	566	468	331	463	389	7
Unknown	-	1	-	3	13	1,143	-	78
Total	4,519	5,112	5,322	5,247	5,145	4,960	4,911	5,389	100

1. Information for 2008-09 is not directly comparable with previous years due to changes in recording practices for Lothian & Borders police force. Please see note 4.3.
2. Information on location of incident was not available for 2009-10 for Lothian & Borders police force. Please see note 4.3.

Table 4 Racist incidents recorded, by quarter¹, 2004-05 to 2011-12
Number

Month	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12
April to June	1,221	1,207	1,303	1,599	1,341	1,354	1,365	1,349
July to September	1,187	1,508	1,465	1,399	1,230	1,276	1,189	1,468
October to December	1,138	1,267	1,317	1,147	1,252	1,264	1,210	1,309
January to March	973	1,130	1,237	1,102	1,322	1,066	1,147	1,263
Total	4,519	5,112	5,322	5,247	5,145	4,960	4,911	5,389

1. Where the date was unknown, forces were asked to record as 15th of month; if month was unknown, forces were asked to record as 15th June.

Table 5 Racist incidents recorded, by day of week¹, 2004-05 to 2011-12
Number

Day	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12
Monday	569	639	624	621	642	573	570	687
Tuesday	538	576	624	661	595	544	585	597
Wednesday	557	600	652	641	593	585	561	649
Thursday	571	629	628	635	631	629	626	631
Friday	789	915	892	859	855	792	739	869
Saturday	834	999	1,088	1,037	984	1,012	973	1,042
Sunday	661	754	814	793	845	825	857	914
Total	4,519	5,112	5,322	5,247	5,145	4,960	4,911	5,389

1. Where the date was unknown, forces were asked to record as 15th of month; if month unknown, asked to record as 15th June. The 'day' variable was then calculated from this date. Some days will therefore include unknown values.

Table 6 Racist incidents recorded, by category of person making initial report, 2004-05 to 2011-12
Number

Reporter	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-101	2010-111	2011-121
Victim	3,833	4,391	4,373	3,987	3,737	2,867	2,778	2,800
Police	158	220	350	518	671	329	355	462
Third part agency report	31	74	38	50	73	80	67	68
Witness	282	213	331	404	419	356	453	574
Other	215	214	230	285	230	170	175	148
Unknown	.	.	.	3	15	1,158	1,083	1,337
Total	4,519	5,112	5,322	5,247	5,145	4,960	4,911	5,389

1. Information on person making initial report was not available for Lothian & Borders for 2009-10 onwards.

Table 7a Crimes recorded by the police as part of racist incidents, 2004-05 to 2011-12
Number

Crimes recorded	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12
Crimes of violence and sexual offences	69	83	75	65	84	60	74	73
Crimes of dishonesty	62	67	83	73	72	91	48	52
Fire-raising, vandalism etc	468	571	473	456	366	403	353	325
Other crimes	82	96	105	84	69	94	46	34
Total offences - of which	5,053	5,627	5,915	5,989	6,026	5,822	5,652	5,988
Common Assault	750	876	908	812	739	884	848	803
Breach of the peace	915	795	859	1,066	1,125	829	820	1,201
Racially aggravated harassment	360	300	237	247	228	183	159	121
Racially aggravated conduct	2,969	3,583	3,808	3,778	3,815	3,801	3,683	3,658
Other offences	59	73	103	86	119	125	142	205
Unknown crimes/offences	-	-	3	9	-	-	-	-
Total	5,734	6,444	6,654	6,676	6,617	6,470	6,173	6,472

1. Includes Breach of the peace, Threatening or abusive behaviour, Offence of stalking, Offensive behaviour at football and Threatening communications (Offensive behaviour at football and threatening communications Act 2012). See note 4.8.

Table 7b Clear-up rate of Crimes recorded by the police as part of racist incidents, 2004-05 to 2011-12
Percentage

Crimes cleared up	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12
Crimes of violence and sexual offences	49	34	49	55	62	70	69	73
Crimes of dishonesty	48	46	47	48	63	65	52	62
Fire-raising, vandalism etc	33	32	38	36	35	47	37	38
Other crimes	82	81	90	85	86	94	89	85
Total offences - of which	56	56	60	60	65	68	69	70
Common Assault	51	53	55	57	63	69	68	69
Breach of the peace	62	56	67	62	71	73	70	60
Racially aggravated harassment	57	46	57	57	61	63	67	62
Racially aggravated conduct	56	58	60	60	64	68	70	75
Other offences	24	32	38	29	46	61	44	51
Total	54	54	58	58	63	67	67	68

1. Includes Breach of the peace, Threatening or abusive behaviour, Offence of stalking, Offensive behaviour at football and Threatening communications (Offensive behaviour at football and threatening communications Act 2012). See note 4.8.

Table 8 Ethnic origin¹ of victims of racist incidents, 2004-05 to 2011-12
Number and percentage

Ethnic Group	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	% breakdown 2011-12
White British	826	1,030	983	1,030	1,095	1,158	1,048	1,295	22
White Irish	63	91	139	121	124	87	131	95	2
Other White2	130	122	414	477	509	534	546	700	12
Mixed	127	149	170	152	150	129	248	151	3
Indian	443	431	507	488	609	557	536	486	8
Pakistani	1,773	1,545	1,833	1,654	1,584	1,458	1,376	1,357	23
Bangladeshi	67	26	67	48	54	62	95	57	1
Other Asian	508	984	532	559	505	497	503	520	9
Caribbean	92	171	59	53	59	46	46	35	1
African	321	325	404	443	478	505	416	539	9
Other Black	118	68	111	181	160	115	249	174	3
Chinese	151	153	183	117	152	127	110	153	3
Other	295	379	339	290	290	323	335	327	6
Unknown	145	346	222	177	226	185	267	422
Total	5,059	5,820	5,963	5,790	5,995	5,783	5,906	6,311	100

1. See note 4.6 for detail of changes to ethnic origin classifications implemented in 2009-10.
2. Includes Gypsy/Traveller, Polish White and Other White.

Table 9 Main language of victims of racist incidents, 2004-05 to 2011-12
Number

Language	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12
English	4,238	4,770	5,058	3,880	3,846	3,559	3,399	4,022
Other	652	728	637	1,562	806	505	498	510
Unknown1,2	169	322	268	348	1,343	1,719	2,009	1,779
Total	5,059	5,820	5,963	5,790	5,995	5,783	5,906	6,311

1. Lothian & Borders police force was unable to provide data on main language of victim for 2008-09 onwards and have therefore been included as 'unknown'.
2. Central Scotland police force was unable to provide information for 2010-11 and 2011-12 on the main language of victim, and have therefore been included as 'unknown'.

Table 10 Age and gender of victims of racist incidents, 2004-05 to 2011-12
Number and rate per 10,000 population

Gender	Age	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	rate per 10,000 population (2011-12)
Male	Under 16	198	218	269	172	217	211	229	220	5
	16 to 20	279	332	346	306	288	285	286	277	16
	21 to 25	482	525	664	634	688	649	615	637	34
	26 to 35	1,172	1,286	1,413	1,315	1,484	1,450	1,545	1,566	46
	36 to 50	1,124	1,285	1,207	1,267	1,328	1,210	1,216	1,294	24
	Over 50	356	346	313	369	341	330	346	420	5
	Total Male	3,611	3,992	4,212	4,063	4,346	4,135	4,237	4,414	17
Female	Under 16	116	135	200	115	126	115	153	133	3
	16 to 20	96	109	140	128	108	128	126	116	7
	21 to 25	165	188	182	203	199	168	183	238	13
	26 to 35	364	416	383	427	391	427	398	485	15
	36 to 50	363	455	415	412	413	427	444	475	8
	Over 50	111	105	108	91	115	128	118	106	1
	Total Female	1,215	1,408	1,428	1,376	1,352	1,393	1,422	1,553	6
Unknown gender/age		233	420	323	351	297	255	247	344
Total		5,059	5,820	5,963	5,790	5,995	5,783	5,906	6,311	12

Table 11 Number of previous incidents¹ reported to police by victim, 2004-05 to 2011-12
Number

Number of incidents	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12
None - first report	3,543	4,157	4,350	3,918	4,043	3,910	3,959	4,073
1	447	508	517	475	544	541	518	542
2	216	241	245	250	240	253	218	255
3	121	132	130	143	152	151	134	142
4	73	96	74	91	97	79	77	77
5	52	61	49	66	69	75	53	54
6	47	47	49	34	42	53	37	35
7	32	34	36	19	27	41	37	34
8	24	21	31	21	24	28	37	27
9	20	20	24	16	19	22	22	19
10 or more	110	105	150	136	172	124	126	158
Unknown2	374	398	308	621	566	506	688	895
Total	5,059	5,820	5,963	5,790	5,995	5,783	5,906	6,311

1. Previous incidents occurring within the previous two years.
2. Central Scotland police force was unable to provide information for 2010-11 and 2011-12 on the number of previous incidents reported by the victim, and these incidents have therefore been included as 'unknown'.

Table 12 Ethnic origin of perpetrators of racist incidents, 2004-05 to 2011-12
Number and percentage

Ethnic Group	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	% breakdown 2011-12
White British	3,060	3,743	4,320	4,281	4,161	4,219	4,183	4,075	83
White Irish	16	32	32	58	43	36	71	38	1
Other White1,2	19	20	101	61	104	125	661	538	11
Mixed	42	14	13	16	24	20	17	18	*
Asian3	73	106	132	100	117	99	99	145	3
Black4	25	27	69	48	38	46	64	48	1
Other	11	22	11	14	26	23	30	26	1
Unknown	75	136	404	435	934	936	437	393
Total	3,321	4,100	5,082	5,013	5,447	5,504	5,562	5,281	100

1. Following a transition to the 21 group ethnic classification codes, Central Scotland and Lothian & Borders have each had a larger number of perpetrators classing themselves as 'White European', who would therefore be classified as 'Other White'.
2. Includes Gypsy/Traveller, Polish White and Other White.
3. Includes Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Chinese and Other Asian.
4. Includes Black African, Black Caribbean and Other Black.

Table 13 Main language of perpetrators of racist incidents, 2004-05 to 2011-12
Number

Language	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12
English	3,175	3,988	4,651	4,607	3,463	3,154	3,372	3,516
Other	56	20	38	56	45	31	46	45
Unknown1	90	92	393	350	1,939	2,319	2,144	1,720
Total	3,321	4,100	5,082	5,013	5,447	5,504	5,562	5,281

1. Lothian & Borders were unable to provide information on main language of the perpetrator for 2008-09 onwards and have therefore been included as 'unknown'.

Table 14 Age and gender of perpetrators of racist incidents, 2004-05 to 2011-12
Number and rate per 10,000 population

Gender	Age	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	rate per 10,000 population ( 2011-12)
Male	Under 16	591	694	934	791	864	913	900	762	16
	16 to 20	643	939	911	841	939	1,016	970	765	45
	21 to 25	341	401	465	501	561	580	586	585	31
	26 to 35	435	489	612	564	666	659	679	735	22
	36 to 50	384	464	592	619	626	704	682	708	13
	Over 50	121	121	202	223	222	203	238	278	3
	Total Male	2,515	3,108	3,716	3,539	3,878	4,075	4,055	3,833	15
Female	Under 16	162	286	303	228	263	254	288	258	6
	16 to 20	112	174	223	186	206	209	177	161	10
	21 to 25	67	78	83	100	112	115	130	143	8
	26 to 35	158	130	145	174	162	179	192	206	6
	36 to 50	132	158	189	191	205	214	213	229	4
	Over 50	31	42	50	55	70	73	57	78	1
	Total Female	662	868	993	934	1,018	1,044	1,057	1,075	4
Unknown gender/age		144	124	373	540	551	385	450	373
Total		3,321	4,100	5,082	5,013	5,447	5,504	5,562	5,281	10

Table 15 Police action taken with regard to perpetrator, 2004-05 to 2011-12
Number

Action taken	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12
Referral to Procurator Fiscal or SCRA	2,512	3,181	3,353	3,446	3,652	2,477	2,699	2,846
Police warning	141	62	123	82	101	44	91	52
Referred to other agency for action	74	92	2	9	5	8	13	49
Other action	370	509	553	716	922	787	509	479
No further action	138	141	854	731	721	141	359	358
Unknown1	86	115	197	29	46	2,047	1,891	1,497
Total	3,321	4,100	5,082	5,013	5,447	5,504	5,562	5,281

1. Lothian & Borders police force was unable to provide data on police action taken for 2009-10 onwards, and the action taken with regard to perpetrators of these incidents have therefore been included as 'unknown'.