Religiously Aggravated Offending in Scotland in 2014-15

Religiously Aggravated Offending in Scotland in 2014-15


3. Findings

Number of charges

There were 569 charges with a religious aggravation reported in 2014-15. This is a 4% decrease since 2013-14 when there were 591 charges reported to COPFS. This is also the lowest level of religiously aggravated charges reported to COPFS since 2004-05 when 479 charges were reported shortly after the legislation was introduced. Table 1 below shows a breakdown of the charges reported to COPFS between 2007 and 2015.

Table 1: Charges reported to COPFS between 2007 and 2015

2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15
Number of charges 609 668 633 694 897 689 591 569

These trends may have been influenced in the last two years by the separate use of charges under section 1 of the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Act 2012. This legislation, which came into force on 1st March 2012, criminalises religious hatred that is connected to football and may be used instead of section 74 legislation (religiously aggravated charges) in certain circumstances. There were 48 additional charges additional 'religious' charges[14] under this legislation during 2014-15. When all legislation is considered (i.e. when section 74 charges are added to the section 1 and 6, offensive behaviour at football and threatening communications charges) there is a total of 617 charges relating to religious prejudice in Scotland in 2014-15 (a 3% decrease on the corresponding figure in 2013-14 when there were 639 'religion' charges, and a 19% decrease since 2012-13 when there were 764 'religious' charges, and a 31% decrease since 2011-12 when there were 897 'religious' charges under section 74).

COPFS statistics are based on a live database and therefore the figures reported in Table 1 do not exactly match those previously published in COPFS and Scottish Government reports. The database may change; for example if the Procurator Fiscal amends a charge the database will only hold details of the amended charge. The comparisons in the remainder of this report are based on the total number of charges that were analysed and included in the past reports for 2011-12, 2012-13, and 2013-14 by the Scottish Government at the time that research was carried out.

Before providing further details of these charges, it is worth highlighting that these charges do not relate to 569 separate incidents. Many of the incidents which took place involved more than one accused, and/or more than one breach of the law, and will therefore have resulted in more than one charge. The bulk of the analysis in this report relate to 'charges' rather than to separate incidents that were reported by the police to COPFS.

Sex and age of the accused

For 2014-15, 92% of the charges related to male accused. Table 2 shows the age breakdown of the accused for each of the 569 religious aggravation charges. 44% were between the ages of 16 and 30 (47% in 2013-14, 49% in 2012-13, and 58% in 2011-12).

Table 2: Age breakdown of the accused*

Age group 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15
Number of charges % Number of charges % Number of charges % Number of charges %
Under 16 5 0.6 12 2 0 0 7 1
16-20 178 20 105 15 83 14 71 12
21-30 331 38 229 33 191 33 182 32
31-40 184 21 173 25 133 23 127 22
41-50 118 14 116 17 114 19 110 19
51-60 41 5 37 5 57 10 56 10
Over 60 18 2 15 2 9 2 15 3
Unknown 1 0.1 0 0 0 0 1 0.2
Total 876 100 687 100 587 100 569 100.0

* Percentages may not add to 100 because of rounding.

Location of the charges

Table 3 shows the local authority area where the charges occurred. As with previous years, there remains a large concentration of charges in Glasgow, which accounts for 35% of the charges. This is the same proportion (35%) as in 2013-14, but a reduction from 47% in 2012-13 and 40% in 2011-12. The number of charges per 100,000 people has reduced from 60 in 2011-12, 47 in 2012-13, 35 in 2013-14, to 32 in 2014-15.

Apart from the concentration in Glasgow, there were relatively high numbers of charges in Edinburgh, North Lanarkshire, Falkirk and West Lothian. With the exception of Edinburgh, this higher prevalence is also evident when controlling for population density. The remaining charges are spread out throughout local authorities, with most of them having between 5-20 charges each year.

Table 3: Local authority area where charges occurred*

Local authority area 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15
No. of charges % Charges per 100k pop. No. of charges % Charges per 100k pop. No. of charges % Charges per 100k pop. No. of charges % Charges per 100k pop.
Aberdeen City 16 2 7 7 1 3 7 1 3 11 2 5
Aberdeenshire 5 1 2 6 1 2 1 0.2 0.4 2 0.4 1
Angus 4 1 4 0 0 0 5 1 4 4 1 3
Argyll & Bute 21 2 24 9 1 10 6 1 7 10 2 11
Clackmannanshire 12 1 24 8 1 16 4 1 8 0 0.0 0
Dumfries & Galloway 19 2 13 13 2 9 11 2 7 8 1 5
Dundee City 9 1 6 5 1 3 7 1 5 4 1 3
E. Ayrshire 20 2 17 11 2 9 9 2 7 6 1 5
E. Dunbartonshire 2 0.2 2 8 1 8 7 1 7 4 1 4
E. Lothian 2 0.2 2 7 1 7 6 1 6 2 0.4 2
E. Renfrewshie 5 1 6 10 2 11 4 1 4 6 1 6
Edinburgh City 48 6 10 32 5 6 36 6 8 53 9 10
Eilian Siar (Western Isles) 1 0.1 4 2 0.3 7 0 0 0 1 0.2 3
Falkirk 41 5 27 48 7 31 41 7 26 30 5 19
Fife 18 2 5 11 2 3 12 2 4 9 2 2
Glasgow City 353 40 60 281 41 47 208 35 35 197 35 32
Highland 9 1 4 2 0.3 1 9 2 4 11 2 5
Inverclyde 14 2 18 3 0.4 4 7 1 9 5 1 6
Midlothian 2 0.2 3 2 0.3 2 4 1 5 9 2 10
Moray 4 1 5 4 1 4 3 1 3 2 0.4 2
N. Ayrshire 23 3 17 8 1 6 14 2 10 13 2 10
N. Lanarkshire 84 10 26 95 14 28 66 11 20 41 7 12
Orkney Islands 1 1 5 2 0.3 10 0 0 0 1 0.2 5
Perth & Kinross 9 1 6 10 2 7 6 1 4 3 1 2
Renfrewshire 33 4 20 11 2 6 14 2 8 28 5 16
Scottish Borders 1 0.1 1 0 0 0 3 1 3 5 1 4
Shetland Islands 1 0.1 5 0 0 0 4 1 17 1 0.2 4
S. Ayrshire 8 1 7 3 0.4 3 20 3 18 9 2 8
S. Lanarkshire 42 5 14 28 4 9 21 4 7 24 4 8
Striling 22 3 25 21 3 23 24 4 26 18 3 20
W. Dunbartonshire 27 3 30 14 2 16 12 2 13 14 3 16
W. Lothian 10 1 6 24 4 14 16 3 9 37 7 20
Outside Scotland 0 0 0 0 1 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Unknown 10 1 - 1 0.1 - 2 0.3 - 1 0.2 -
Total 876 100 17 687 100 13 587 100 11 569 100.0 11

* Scottish Local Authority area population rates for 2014-15 is based on GROS mid-year population rates 2014, rounded to the nearest 1.
Available at http://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/files//statistics/population-estimates/midyear-2014/14mid-year-pe-cahb-publication-correction.pdf.

Locus of charges

As Table 4 shows, 117 charges (21%) took place in a 'main street'[15] in a town or city centre. Just under a fifth (19%) of all charges occurred in a police car/station; this is a decrease from 23% in 2012-13, and the same as 2013-14. The proportion of charges taking place in domestic dwellings was 83 (15%) in 2014-15. This is an increase from 70 (10%) in 2012-1 but a decrease from 99 (17%) in 2013-14.

There was a decrease in the proportion of charges that took place in residential areas from 126 (18%) in 2012-13, 85 (15%) in 2013-14, to 58 (10%) in 2014-15. There was also a decrease in the number of charges which took place at football stadiums; from 27 charges (4%) in 2012-13, 16 charges (3%) in 2013-14, to 8 (1%) in 2014-15. Thirty-six charges (6%) related to online social media including Facebook and Twitter. This represents an increase from 30 in 2012-13 and 17 in 2013-14.

Table 4: Locus of charges*ǂ§

Locus 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15
Number of charges % Number of charges % Number of charges % Number of charges %
Police car/station 199 23 159 23 113 19 109 19
Main street 175 20 153 22 177 30 117 21
Residential area 162 19 126 18 85 15 58 10
Domestic dwelling 97 11 70 10 99 17 83 15
Football stadium 67 8 27 4 16 3 8 1
Public transport 60 7 27 5 16 3 35 6
Pub/club 33 4 32 6 24 4 20 4
Hospital/ambulance 23 3 15 2 15 3 21 4
Social media - - 30 4 17 3 36 6
Place of worship - - 6 2 7 1 3 0.5
Other / unspecified 71 8 64 9 18 3 79 14

* Charges do not always add up to the total number reported because an incident may fall into more than one locus type, for example a public transport station outside a football stadium.

ǂ In 2011-12 the number of charges relating to online social media were included in the domestic dwelling figures.

§ Before 2012-13 the locus 'place of worship' was included in 'other'. Comparisons of this category should therefore be made with caution.

Timing of charges

Chart 1 outlines the peak days of the week and times of the day that incidents took place. There were typically spikes in religiously aggravated offending between 16:00 and 20:00 on weekdays. There were larger spikes at weekends, particualrly on Fridays and Saturdays between 20:00 and 00:00.

Chart 1: Time and day of incidents

Chart 1: Time and day of incidents

Football, marches and parades

The analysis included looking at the number of religious aggravation charges that were related in some way to football or marches/parades. This included, for example, if the incident took place at a football match or screening, or at a march or parade, or if the police noted the relevance of a football association within the description of the incident[16]. Again, this findings is based on the information recorded in police reports and may under-report the links to football and marches//parades if the police did not note this.

Table 5: Charges linked to football and marches/parades

2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15
Number of charges % Number of charges % Number of charges % Number of charges %
Football 267 31 109 16 96 16 64 11
Marches/parades 18 2 85 12 34 6 31 5

Under section 74 there were 64 charges linked to football in 2014-15 (11% of the total). This is a decrease since 2012-13 when there were 109 charges, and 2013-14 when there were 96 charges. This is also a reduction in proportion of charges that were linked to football.

Within the 64 football-related charges under section 74, 8 occurred at a football stadium. The other football-related charges took place in settings such as main streets in town and city centres, on social media, in/at police cars/stations, on public transport, in residential areas, and in domestic dwellings.

The Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Act 2012 criminalises offensive behaviour related to football, including offensive singing or chanting where it is likely to incite public disorder. Some of the charges that might, before this time, have been dealt with under section 74 of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003, may from this date have been dealt with under the new legislation.

Under this legislation there were an extra 48 religious charges that were related to football in 2014-15. In total, there were 112 football-related charges reported to COPFS that contained religious prejudice, when both section 74 (religious aggravation charges) and the relevant parts of the offensive behaviour at football legislation are considered.

Also, as shown in Table 5, there was a decrease in the proportion of charges relating to marches and parades from 12% (85 charges) in 2012-13, 6% (34 charges) in 2013-14, to 5% (31) charges in 2014-15.

Religious beliefs/affiliations that were targeted

Information about the nature of the religiously offensive conduct was taken from the police report of the incident. There is no separate section within police reports that states which religious belief, in the reporting police officer's view, was targeted. An assessment was made by the researcher about the religion that appeared to be targeted, based on the police description of the incident and the details about what was said or done by the accused. The religious beliefs or affiliations of the accused or the victims of the incident are not formally recorded by the police as they are not relevant to the definition of the crime in the law. This report does not present definitive information about the religious beliefs or affiliations of the people targeted by the offensive conduct.

Table 6 below shows there was decrease of 5 percentage points in the proportion of charges where conduct was derogatory towards Roman Catholicism; from 367 charges in 2013-14 (63% of the total) to 328 charges in 2014-15 (58% of the total). There was a decrease of 4 percentage points in the proportion of charges with conduct derogatory towards Protestantism; from 169 in 2013-14 (29% of the total) to 145 in 2014-15 (25% of the total).

There was an increase of 4 percentage points in the proportion of charges where conduct was derogatory towards Islam, from 48 charges (8% of the total) in 2013-14 to 71 charges (12% of the total) in 2014-15. Charges for conduct derogatory towards Judaism also increased from 9 charges (2% of the total) in 2013-14 to 25 (4% of the total) in 2014-15.

Table 6: Religious affiliation that was the subject of offensive conduct*

Religion targeted 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15
Number of charges % Number of charges % Number of charges % Number of charges %
Roman Catholicism 509 58 388 57 367 63 328 58
Protestantism 353 40 199 29 169 29 145 25
Islam 19 2 80 12 48 8 71 12
Judaism 14 1 27 4 9 2 25 4
Christianity (general) 3 0.3 5 1 4 1 6 1
Unknown 2 0.2 4 1 5 1 9 2
Other 0 0 3 0.4 2 0.3 1 0.2

* Charges do not add up to the total number reported as some charges related to conduct that targeted more than one religious group.

Victims

Information about the people targeted by the religious aggravation is not separately recorded in the police report and for the purpose of this analysis the researchers made an assessment of the victims, based on the police description of the incident. The victim was defined as the main target for the religiously offensive part of the charge. This may have been a member of the public, police officer or other worker, or it may have been a member of the community, for example if someone was singing a religiously offensive song that was not directed at anyone in particular. Each charge may have included multiple victim 'types'.

As shown in Table 7, the police were again the most common target of religiously-aggravated offending in 2014-15. However, since 2013-14 there has been a decrease from 282 charges were police were the victims to 233 in 2014-15 (a proportional decrease from 48% to 41%). These charges often relate to incidents where the police arrested the accused for a separate charge (which may not have involved religious prejudice) and were then abused in religiously offensive terms afterwards.

Since 2013-14, there has been an increase in the number of charges relating to the generally community (e.g. people who happened to be in the vicinity, but who were not directly targeted by the accused) were the victim from 155 in 2013-14 to 205 in 2014-15 (a proportional increase from 26% to 36%).

There was an increase in the number of charges relating to members of the public from 161 in 2013-14 to 169 in 2014-15 (a proportional increase from 27% to 30%). There was also an increase in the number of charges where workers were the victims: from 65 charges in 2013-14 to 85 in 2014-15 (a proportional increase from 11% to 15%). The 'workers' category includes hospital staff, security staff, shop workers, taxi drivers, and religious officials[17]. Seventy percent of the charges included victims that were police officers, the general community, and workers. This suggests that for the majority of charges it is unlikely that the accused knew the religious affiliation/belief of the victim at the time of the incident, and that the attacks were arbitrary in nature.

Table 7: Victims of religious aggravation*

Victim 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15
Number of charges % Number of charges % Number of charges % Number of charges %
Police 449 51 273 40 282 48 233 41
Community 259 30 231 34 155 26 205 36
Member of public 271 31 172 25 161 27 169 30
Worker(s) 117 13 80 12 65 11 85 15

* Charges do not add up to the total number of reported because some charges related to behaviour that targeted more than one victim or victim type.

Alcohol and drug-related charges

Table 8 shows that the accused was described by the police as being under the influence of alcohol in 282 charges (50% of the total) in 2014-15, a decrease from the 345 charges (59% of the total) in 2013-14. This finding is based on the information recorded in police reports, therefore may under-represent the alcohol links to the offending if there were charges where the police did not note that the accused had been drinking. It was also not possible to quantify the amount of alcohol consumed in any given case.

Drug-related charges refer to incidents where the police reported the accused as possessing drugs or suspected they had taken drugs before the charge. In 2014-15 these accounted for 41 charges (7%), a slight increase from 2013-14 when there were 28 charges (5%) related to drugs.

Table 8: Alcohol and drug-related charges*

2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15
Number of charges % Number of charges % Number of charges % Number of charges %
Alcohol 498 57 333 49 345 59 282 50
Drugs 75 9 60 9 28 5 41 7

* Some charges may have included both alcohol and drugs.

Main charges

Table 9 shows a breakdown of the main charges that aggravations were added to. It shows a trend of deceasing numbers of religious aggravations of common law charge of 'breach of the peace'. Charges under the 'threatening and abusive behaviour' (under section 38 of the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010) have decreased in 2014-15 after a rise in 2013-14 compared to 2012-13.

There has been an increase aggravations related to the statutory charge of 'act in a racially aggravated manner' from 4 charges (0.7) in 2013-14 to 34 charges (6%) in 2014-15.

Table 9: Main charges that the religious aggravations were added to*ǂ§

Main charge 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15
Number of charges % Number of charges % Number of charges % Number of charges %
Breach of the peace 365 32 134 20 68 12 54 10
Threatening or abusive behaviour 414 47 385 56 416 71 372 65
Assault 35 4 26 4 34 6 36 6
Offensive behaviour at football N/A N/A 35 5 14 2 3 0.5
Offensive communications N/A N/A 4 1 2 0.3 38 7
Act in a racially aggravated manner N/A N/A 61 9 4 0.7 34 6
Other 62 7 42 6 49 8 32 6
Total 876 100 687 100 587 100 569 100.0

* Percentages do not add up to 100 due to rounding.

ǂ These main charges refer to the main charges as initially cited, they may have changed during the court proceedings.

§ The charge 'Act in a Racially Aggravated Manner' comes under the Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995 and is intrinsically racial, however a religious aggravation may be added where appropriate.

Table 10 shows a breakdown of the main charges by religion. There was a broadly similar proportional spread in the charges for breach of the peace and threatening or abusive behaviour given for offences against Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. However, there was a different profile for charges including other religions, notably Islam, where there was a much smaller proportion of charges that were breaches of the peace and threatening or abusive behaviour, and a higher proportion of racially aggravated charges.

Table 10: Breakdown of main charges in 2014-15*

Main charge Catholicism Protestantism Islam Judaism Christianity (general)
Charges % Charges % Charges % Charges % Charges %
Breach of the peace 40 12 10 7 2 3 3 12 0 -
Threatening or abusive behaviour 228 70 108 74 27 38 9 36 5 83
Assault 13 4 11 8 12 17 0 0 1 17
Offensive Behaviour at Football 1 0.03 2 1 0 0.0 0 0 0 0
Offensive communications 16 5 7 5 5 7 8 32 0 0
Act in a racially aggravated manner 8 2 1 1 23 32 3 12 0 0
Other 22 7 6 4 2 3 2 8 0 -
Total 328 100 145 100 71 100 25 100 6 100

* The charge 'Act in a Racially Aggravated Manner' comes under the Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995 and is intrinsically racial, however a religious aggravation may be added where appropriate.

Court proceedings

The COPFS publish an annual report on hate crime in Scotland. This provides more detail on the outcomes of these charges and can be found at http://www.copfs.gov.uk/publications/equality-and-diversity. As explained in this report, court proceedings were commenced in 86% of charges with a religious aggravation in 2014-15.

Many cases are on-going and information about final convictions will be presented in Scottish Government 'criminal proceedings' publications[18]. Provisional information from the COPFS case management database shows that court proceedings had been concluded for 244 of these main charges. Of this number 206 (84%) resulted in convictions. As shown in Table 11, the most common disposal recorded was a monetary penalty for 77 charges (37%) similar to 2013-14. A community penalty[19] was given for 60 charges (29%) similar to 2013-14. Custody was the disposal for 47 charges (23%) similar to 2013-14. Other[20] disposals were recorded for the remaining 22 charges (11%).

Table 11: Recorded disposals[21]

Disposal 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15
Number of charges % Number of charges % Number of charges % Number of charges %
Monetary penalty 217 43 104 40 93 39 77 37
Community penalty 110 25 61 23 72 30 60 29
Custody 103 18 60 23 57 24 47 23
Other 75 15 37 14 16 7 22 11
Total 505 100 262 100 238 100 206 100

Contact

Email: Ben Cavanagh

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