Information

Scottish Parliament election: 7 May. This site won't be routinely updated during the pre-election period.

Understanding and Tackling Barriers to Reporting Hate Crime: Evidence Review

This evidence review collates and presents barriers to reporting hate crime and identifies effective strategies to tackle them.


References

Berkowitz, A.D. (2009). Response Ability: A complete guide to bystander intervention. Chicago: Beck & Company.

British Red Cross (2019) Hate crime experiences of Refugees and Asylum Seekers.

College of Policing (2023) Responding to hate | College of Policing.

Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (2025) Hate Crime in Scotland 2024-25 | COPFS.

Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (2023) Equality Mainstreaming Report 2021-23 | COPFS.

Dimensions (2019) #ImWithSam Report 2018/19.

Equality Network and Scottish Trans (2017) Scottish LGBTQI Hate Crime Report 2017.

Flax, M., Millband, O. and Grendele, W. (2024) ‘Doesn’t anyone care anymore?’ Bystander intervention to hate crime’. International Review of Victimology, 31, 1. [Online] Available from: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/02697580241271465.

Glasgow City Council (2025) Glasgow Household Survey (GHS) - Glasgow City Council.

Hardy, S. and Chakraborti, N. (2020) Blood, Threats and Fears: The Hidden Worlds of Hate Crime Victims. Palgrave Macmillan.

Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021. Available at: Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021.

Hewitt, L. (2022) Policing Disability Hate Crime. British Journal of Community Justice.

HM Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland (2021a) Thematic Inspection of Hate Crime.

HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate and HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (2019) The poor relation: The police and CPS response to crimes against older people.

Hopkins, P. (2021) Report of the inquiry into Islamophobia in Scotland by the Cross-Party Group on Tackling Islamophobia.

Hubbard, L. (2021) The Hate Crime Report 2021: Supporting LGBT+ Victims of Hate Crime, London: Galop.

I am Me Scotland (2023a) Keep Safe Ambassadors.

I am Me Scotland (2023b) Keep Safe Evaluation 2023.pdf.

Independent Advisory Group on Hate Crime, Prejudice and Community Cohesion (2016) Report of the Independent Advisory Group on Hate Crime, Prejudice and Community Cohesion.

LGBT Youth Scotland (2022) Life in Scotland for LGBT Young People.

Maguire, C. (2017) Hate Crime and Third Party Reporting Centres: A mapping and scoping exercise, Scottish Commission for Learning Disability.

McBride, M. (2016) A Review of the Evidence on Hate Crime and Prejudice: Report for the Independent Advisory Group on Hate Crime, Prejudice and Community Cohesion.

mygov.scot (2021) Hate crime: support - mygov.scot.

Pearson, H. and Magic. J. (2017) Scottish LGBTI Hate Crime Report.

Police Scotland (n.d.) Third Party Reporting Centres for Hate Crime - Police Scotland.

Police Scotland (n.d.) Hate crime user experience survey - Police Scotland.

Police Scotland (n.d.) Scotland's British Sign Language Interpreting Video Relay Service - Police Scotland.

Police Scotland (2014) Standards of Service for Victims and Witnesses - Police Scotland.

Police Scotland (2018) Interpreting and Translating Services.

Police Scotland (2019) Estate Strategy.

Police Scotland (2023) Police Scotland Chief Constable Sir Iain Livingstone addresses institutional discrimination. - Police Scotland.

Pulleritz, M. et al. (2020) Successes and challenges of delivering hate crime community projects (publishing.service.gov.uk).

Scottish Trans (2024) Scottish-Trans-and-Nonbinary-Experiences-Research-Report.pdf.

Scottish Government (2017) ‘Hate has no home in Scotland’: Hate Crime Campaign 2017 Evaluation Report.

Scottish Government (2019) ‘Dear Haters’: Hate Crime Campaign 2018 Evaluation Report.

Scottish Government (2021) Characteristics of police recorded hate crime in Scotland: study - gov.scot.

Scottish Government (2022a) The Hate Crime Strategic Partnership Group - gov.scot.

Scottish Government (2022b) Misogyny – A Human Rights Issue - gov.scot.

Scottish Government (2023a) Hate crime strategy - gov.scot.

Scottish Government (2023b) Hate crime strategy: delivery plan - gov.scot.

Scottish Government (2023c) Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021: information note - gov.scot.

Scottish Government (2023d) Police recorded hate crime - characteristics: updated study - gov.scot.

Scottish Government (2023e) Scottish Crime and Justice Survey 2021/22: Main Findings - gov.scot.

Scottish Government (2024) Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act: factsheet - gov.scot.

Scottish Government (2025a) ‘Hate Hurts’ Hate Crime Marketing Campaign 2024 - Evaluation Report.

Scottish Government (2025b) Scottish Crime and Justice Survey 2023/24: Main findings - gov.scot.

Scottish Government (2026) Hate crimes recorded by the police in Scotland, 2024-25 - gov.scot.

Scottish Police Authority (2024) Policing of the Hate Crime Act.

UK Government (2018) Action Against Hate: The UK Government’s plan for tackling hate crime – ‘two years on’.

Vidal, N. and Nisbet, B. (2023) The Refugee and Asylum-Seeker Experiences, Trust and Confidence with Police Scotland.

Walters, M. (n.d.) Hate Crime and Restorative Justice: Exploring Causes, Repairing Harms.

Walters, M. (2019) Prejudice and Hate on University Campuses: repairing harms through student-led restorative justice dialogue, final evaluation report.

Whitten, D. and Went, C. (2025) A randomised control trial testing the impact of police reassurance contact on hate crime victim withdrawal. The Police Journal: Theory, Practice and Principles, 0 (0), 1-18.

Contact

Email: Justice_Analysts@gov.scot

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