Police record 450 hate crimes two weeks on from the Hate Crime and Public Order Act being introduced

Police Scotland have recorded more than 450 hate crime in the first two weeks since new legislation came into force at the beginning of the month.

The Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021, which came into force on April 1, introduced a new crime of stirring up hatred relating to race, disability, sexual orientation, transgender identity and religion. The Bill also abolishes the offence of blasphemy which has not been prosecuted in Scotland for more than 175 years.

Police recorded a 75 per cent drop in the number of online hate reports

New data shared by the police shows there were 213 hate crimes recorded in the last week, down from 240 the previous week. There was also a ‘significant reduction’ in online hate reports with 1832 received between April 8 to 14 compared to 7152 the previous week - a 75 per cent decrease.

Between April 1 and 14, more than half of hate crimes received by police related to race with 240 recorded incidents (51 per cent). Nearly 17 per cent related to sexual orientation (79), around 13 per cent related to disability (61), 8 per cent related to age (38), 7 per cent related to religion and 3 per cent related to transgender identity (14).

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “We have seen a significant reduction in the number of online hate reports and these continue to be managed within our contact centres with minimal impact on frontline policing.

“All complaints received are reviewed by officers, supported by dedicated hate crime advisers, and dealt with appropriately, whether that is being progressed for further assessment, or closed as they do not meet the criteria under the legislation”.

The Police Scotland website states multiple ‘hate aggravators’ can be added to a single hate crime, with police reporting 465 hate crimes from the 453 recorded crimes.

You can view the full report on the Police Scotland website.