Dealing with Racist Victimisation: Racially Aggravated Offences in Scotland
| Published date | 01 January 2004 |
| DOI | 10.1177/026975800401000304 |
| Date | 01 January 2004 |
| Author | S.R. Moody,Ian Clark |
International
Review
ofVictimology,
2004,
Vol.lO,
pp.261-280
0269-7580104
$10
© A B
Academic
Publishers
-Printed
in
Great
Britain
DEALING
WITH
RACIST
VICTIMISATION:
RACIALLY
AGGRAVATED
OFFENCES
IN
SCOTLAND
S.R.
MOODY
1
and
IAN
CLARK
2
Department
of
Law,
University
of
Dundee,
Nethergate,
DDJ
4HN,
UK
ABSTRACT
Racist
victimisation
has
become
a
key
area
for
government
policy
in
many
countries.
At
the
same
time
there
is
a
growing
body
of
knowledge
about
the
experiences,
needs
and
wishes
of
the
survivors
of
racist
victimisation.
This
article
analyses
the
extent
to
which
changes
in
the
law
of
Scotland
concerning
racist
crimes
are
likely
to
be
effective
in
dealing
with
racist
victimisation.
Drawing
on
a
research
project
about
racist
crime
in
Scotland
it
examines
perceptions
of
racist
crime
and
victimisation
in
that
country,
analyses
data
on
prevalence,
considers
some
legal
problems
raised
by
this
legislation
and
also
highlights
practical
difficulties
in
implementing
the
law.
INTRODUCTION
On
1
October
1998
two
new
offences
became
part of
Scots
criminal
law.
Section
33
of
the
Crime
and
Disorder
Act
1998
created
the
crimes
of
racially
aggravated
harassment
3
and
racially
aggravated
conduct.
4
While
an
offence
of
inciting
racial
hatred
already
existed:
this
was
narrowly
defmed
and
very
seldom
used.
5
Reports
of
the
parliamentary
debates
on
these
new
offences
and
on
similar
but
more
extensive
provisions
introduced
into
English
criminal
law
under
the
same
statute
gave
a
variety
of justifications
for
their
introduction
(Hansard,
1998).
The
new
offences,
it
was
claimed,
gave
a
name
to
a
socially
unacceptable
harm
and
underlined
the
seriousness
of
that
harm
by
imposing
criminal
penalties.
The
legislation
was
designed
to
safeguard
victims
by
deterring
racist
conduct
and
giving
criminal
justice
agencies
a
central
role
in
effective
intervention.
The
provisions
were
applauded
by
MPs
who
considered
that
they
sent
a
message
to
offenders
that
their
conduct
was
'shameful'
in
a
society
within
which
diversity
should
be
welcomed.
A
key
selling
point
of
the
legislation,
therefore,
was
that
minority
ethnic
groups
would
be
afforded
better
protection
when
racist
conduct
was
specifically
targeted
as
a
criminal
matter
and
that
minority
ethnic
communities
would
feel
safer
under
this
protection.
Parliamentary
debates
also
suggested,
however,
that
there
were
likely
to
be
difficulties
in
implementing
the
new
offences
and
that
some
Members
of
Parliament
had
objections
in
principle
to
the
legislation.
Some
Scottish
MPs
in
particular
were
quick
to
point
out
that
the
position
of
minority
ethnic
communities
in
Scotland
was
very
different
from
their counterparts
in
262
England
and
Wales
and
that
the
Scottish
provisions
were
both
unnecessary
and
unworkable.
According
to
these
critics,
the
offences
were
unnecessary,
since
in
Scotland
minority
ethnic
communities
and
the
majority
population
lived
in
harmony,
unlike
the
much
more
fraught
situation
elsewhere
in
the
United
Kingdom,
and
they
were
unworkable
because
they
could
not
be
enforced
without
undermining
fundamental
aspects
of
the
criminal
law.
This
article
takes
up
these
concerns
and
considers
them
from
the
standpoint
of
minority
ethnic
victims
of
racist
crime
and
of
agencies
representing
them.
Firstly,
it
questions
the
perception
that
racist
victimisation
is
an
unusual
occur-
rence
and
that
racism
is
not
a
key
social
problem
in
Scotland.
Secondly
it
looks
at
statistics
on
racist
crime
in
Scotland
and
notes
the
difficulties
in
estimating
'real'
rates
of
racist
victimisation.
Finally
it
goes
on
to
consider
the
efficacy
of
the
new
offences
in
dealing
with
racist
crime.
It
scrutinises
the
concerns
raised
by
opponents
of
the
legislation,
both
during
the
consultation
exercise
on
racially
aggravated
crime
that
preceded
the
drafting
of
the
Crime
and
Disorder
Bill
and
in
parliamentary
debates
on
the
Bill
itself.
However,
its
main
focus
is
on
the
impact
of
the
offence
provisions
for
victims,
rather
than
simply
the
technical
legal
problems
associated
with
the
legislation.
The
article
is
derived
from
the
findings
of
a
research
project
commissioned
by
the
Scottish
Executive
to
evaluate
the
use
of
the
new
offences,
drawing
on
official
data
on
racist
crime
and
the
views
of
minority
ethnic
groups
about
racist
victimisation.
Fieldwork
for
the
project
was
carried
out
between
March
2000
and
July
2001,
using
a
combination
of
research
methods
-
statistical
analysis
of
existing
data,
questionnaires
to
minority
ethnic
organisations,
6
focus
groups
with
representatives
from
these
organisations,
7
area
studies
involving
analysis
of
completed
court
cases
and
interviews
with
criminal
justice
practitioners.
8
The
results
are
published
in
full
in
Clark
and
Moody
(2002).
PERCEPTIONS OF
RACIST
VICTIMISATION
IN
SCOTLAND
Criminal
victimisation
on
the
grounds
of
race
or
ethnicity
has
only
recently
become
a
matter
of
concern
to
government
and
to
criminal
justice
agencies
in
Scotland.
During
the
early
1990s
some
cases
of
violent
racist
attacks
were
highlighted
in
the
media
9
but
it
was
generally
believed
that
Scotland
was,
for
the
most
part,
a
tolerant
country
where
minority
ethnic
groups
and
individuals
did
not
suffer
a
high
degree
of
victimisation.
No
more
than
2%
of
the
Scottish
population
comes
from
a
non-white
ethnic
group.
The
1991
Census
recorded
a
figure
of
1.3%
(Peach,
1996)
and
this
increased
to
2%
in
the
most
recent
Census,
taken
in
2001
(General
Register
Office
for
Scotland,
2003).
This
contrasts
with
the
situation
in
England
where
the
minority
ethnic
population
rose
from
6%
in
1991
to
9%
in
2001
(National
Statistics
Online,
2003).
In
many
parts
of
Scotland,
particularly
the
more
isolated
rural
areas,
there
are
not
even
clusters
of
ethnic
minorities
(De
Lima,
2001).
To continue reading
Request your trial