Statistics of hate crimes directed towards Roman Catholics and Protestants: FOI release

Information requested

What percentage of Hate Crime is directed towards Roman Catholics in both Glasgow and Scotland and what percentage of Hate Crime is directed towards Protestants in both Glasgow and Scotland?

Response

I attach a copy of some of the information you requested which is included below.

We hold information for religion aggravated hate crimes towards Roman Catholics and Protestants recorded by the police in Scotland in 2018-19. Where the victim was not a police officer in the line of duty, in around two-fifths (42%) of religion aggravated hate crimes the perpetrator showed prejudice towards the Catholic community. In around one-in-ten crimes (12%), the perpetrator showed prejudice towards the Protestant community. For all hate crimes recorded by the police in 2018-19, 3% and 1% involved the perpetrator showing prejudice towards the Catholic and Protestant communities respectively. More information on the characteristics of hate crime recorded by the police in Scotland can be found in the report at the link below:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/study-characteristics-police-recorded-hate-crime-scotland/

Please note that this information on the prejudice shown by the perpetrator is most often based on the words used or actions taken during the crime. A person does not need to be a member of the social group being targeted by the perpetrator (in this instance the Roman Catholic or Protestant communities) to be the victim of a hate crime and their identity or other characteristics do not need to align with the perpetrator’s perceptions. Also, these figures may not reflect the actual number of hate crimes directed towards Roman Catholic and Protestant communities as not all hate crimes are reported to the police.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we cannot provide the equivalent detail for religion aggravated hate crimes towards Roman Catholics and Protestants in Glasgow City. This is because the information presented in the above report is drawn from a Scotland-wide sample of recorded crimes, whereby any estimates at a local authority or police division level would be based on too small a sample of data to be statistically meaningful.

We are working with Police Scotland to produce a refreshed version of the report above, based on a further review of hate crime records for the reporting year of 2020-21. Updates on this project will be provided through the ScotStat user network.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.