Professor John Robertson OBA

In the Daily Record today:

Shock new figures from Police Scotland show cases of racial and religious abuse have risen sharply in the past three years. However the vast majority of reported crimes now involve what police term a “racial aggravator.” In 2022 there were 3838 recorded hate crimes where race was a factor, that rose to 3937 in 2023, and 4953 last year. In the first two months of 2025 there were 738 race related crimes reported to police. The rise in crime figures follows the introduction of new hate crime legislation last year by the then First Minister Humza Yousaf.

The Record’s Norman Sylvester fails to tell you that the 2022 figure is pandemic-affected where lockdowns reduced most forms of reported crime and that the 2023/2024 figure is not unlike pre-pandemic figures in the graph above.¹

Also, Norman forgets to tell you that racially-aggravated crime at the end of the last Labour administration in Scotland in 2008 had reached more than 6 000, 20% higher than last year.²

Sources:

1. https://www.gov.scot/publications/ethnicity-justice-system/documents/
2. https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-government-equality-outcomes-ethnicity-evidence-review/pages/9/#:~:text=9.3%20The%20EHRC%20Triennial%20Review%2093%20reports%20that,from%205%2C053%20in%202004%2F05%20to%206%2C002%20in%202008%2F09.