Compliance with Lord Advocate's Guidelines for the Reporting of Race Crime
Fourth Survey - 2006
Race crime survey report
Fourth Monitoring Exercise Conducted by The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service of The Police Compliance with the Lord Advocate's Guidelines for Investigation and Reporting of Racist Crime and the Procurator Fiscal's Compliance with the Prosecution Policy
COPFS and ACPOS are committed to monitoring the way race crime in Scotland is reported and processed. This fourth survey looks at police reports submitted to procurators fiscal about racist incidents as well as the decisions made by procurators fiscal. It does not examine conviction rates or sentencing, because these are the responsibilities of the court.
We examined 292 reports submitted from across Scotland in 2006. (This represents a smaller sample than in previous years and was the result of testing out a different methodology.)
The results of this survey will help us to make further improvements in our response to reports of racist crime and to monitor our compliance with the Lord Advocate's Guidelines and the Prosecution Policy on Racially Motivated Crimes. We are currently revising our survey methods within COPFS to ensure a greater element of quality control and this will influence the style and presentation of future surveys.
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
This fourth survey found that court proceedings were taken by the Procurator Fiscal in 94% of the cases; a slight increase from the previous year. In certain circumstances, the Procurator Fiscal can decide not to prosecute and instead deal with cases using a range of direct measures.
We also found that the number of cases where the accused pled guilty had increased (now up to 29%). The racist element of the charge was deleted in full or in part in only 2% of cases. This is down from previous years and shows compliance with our prosecution policy.
There was a consistently high percentage of police reports that gave information about the victim's perception as to whether an incident was racist (84%).
STATISTICS FROM THE MONITORING EXERCISE CONDUCTED BY THE CROWN OFFICE AND PROCURATOR FISCAL SERVICE - 2006
Totals:
· 95% of the sample reports contained a racially aggravated charge or statutory racial aggravation
· 5% contained no such charge or aggravation but did contain a racial element.
The Charges:
· 2% of reports contained a section 50A(1)(a) charge of racially aggravated harassment
· 80% contained a section 50A(1)(b) charge of racially aggravated behaviour
· 22% contained a section 96 racial aggravation accompanying another charge
· The Procurator Fiscal was required to revise the police charge in 38% of cases
Proceedings:
· No proceedings were taken in 3% of cases
· Warning letters were issued to an accused in 2% of cases
· A further 1% of cases were dealt with by another alternative to prosecution - for example a referral to local authority diversion or mediation schemes.
· In total, proceedings were taken in 94% of cases.
· A plea of guilty was accepted by the procurator fiscal in 29% of cases - and in 2% the plea resulted in the racial element being deleted either in part or in full
Content of Police Reports:
· 75% of reports were submitted to the procurator fiscal in accordance with the Lord Advocate's Guidelines - that is either as a custody case or an undertaking or accelerated case.
· The victim's perception of any racial motivation to the incident was noted in 84% of reports
· 76% of reports noted the impact of the incident on the victim - 68% also noted the impact on the victim's family or community
· 87% of reports noted the interpreting needs of either a victim, witness or accused person - 70% of these also noted the particular language and dialect
· 87% of reports noted the translation needs of either a victim, witness or accused person
· 64% of reports indicated some ethnic or religious issues which may be relevant to proceedings
Explanation of Charges:
By race crime we mean any charge of racially aggravated harassment and behaviour in terms of Section 50A of the Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995 or Section 18 of the Public Order Act 1980 (referred to as "Charge") or any racial aggravation in terms of Section 96 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 (referred to as "Aggravation").