Understanding and Tackling Barriers to Reporting Hate Crime: Evidence Review

4. Conclusion

4.1 Summary of findings

This report has identified five key barriers to reporting hate crime. These barriers include:

1. Lack of awareness – not everyone is aware of what hate crime is and how to report it

2. Perceptions of the police and justice system – some people do not think that the police will take their complaint seriously

3. Perception that the offence is not serious enough or is commonplace - some people may believe that incidents are ‘not serious enough’ to be reported or occur too frequently to report it each time

4. Ongoing impacts of hate crime - for instance, the risk of reprisals from the perpetrator or others learning information about the victim that they don’t wish to be wider knowledge

5. Accessibility and language barriers – reporting options available may not be suited to some communication or accessibility needs to enable people to report.

The report sets out examples of key strategies and approaches which evidence suggests can be effective for tackling these barriers. Examples include, but are not limited to, educational workshops and campaigns that can support victims and witnesses to identify what a hate crime is and where to report it. Specific police training aims to equip officers to address hate crime and serve diverse communities. Victim support such as peer support groups and additional support from police can help victims with the potentially traumatic effects of hate crime. There are also multiple ways to report hate crime which aim to reduce accessibility and language barriers.

It is important to acknowledge that there is no one-size fits all solution. There are several categories of barriers, requiring the solutions to also be diverse. Different approaches may need to be taken to target different types of barriers to reporting and to respond to the needs of the range of communities and groups that are protected by the hate crime legislation. For further information on Scottish Government policy actions please see the Hate Crime Strategy and associated Delivery Plan.