Hate crimes recorded by the police in Scotland, 2023-24

Hate crimes by crime type (Table 4)

In 2023-24, a majority (56%) of hate crimes recorded were ‘Threatening or abusive behaviour’ under Section 38 of the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010 (Table 4) (see the earlier report for definitions of selected crimes). This was followed by ‘Communications Act 2003 offences’ which represented 10% of hate crime recorded and ‘Common Assault’ (also 10%).

‘Racially aggravated conduct’ is the fourth highest recorded crime with a hate element. This covers some offences under Section 50A of the Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995 where the perpetrator acts in a racially aggravated manner and this causes, or is intended to cause, a person alarm or distress. ‘Racially aggravated conduct’ is recorded where the behaviour is corroborated by one or more witnesses, otherwise an offence such as ‘Threatening or abusive behaviour’ with a racist aggravator would be recorded. (see the Annex in the earlier report for more information on the definition of ‘Common assault’).

The total number of ‘Threatening or abusive behaviour’ offences recorded has increased from 2,432 in 2014-15 to 3,475 in 2023-24. Over the same period, the number of ‘Communications Act 2003 offences’ have increased from 377 to 634. Meanwhile, ‘Common Assault’ offences recorded has fallen from 822 to 631 and ‘Racially aggravated conduct’ offences recorded has fallen from 2,196 to 643.