Fall In Hate Crime In Scotland

The Crown Office has released figures which show a fall in overall hate crime, but a rise in crimes against disabled people.

There's been a drop in the overall number of hate crimes reported in Scotland with a 5 per cent fall in sexual orientation aggravated crime, when compared with last year.

The Crown Office has released figures which show racial crimes are down 9 per cent, and religiously aggravated offences are down 4 per cent.

Race crime remains the most commonly reported hate crime, with 3,785 charges reported in 2014/15.

Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland QC says a rise in the number of crimes against disabled people is down to more victims reporting offences.

Those have more than tripled in five years, rising from 48 in 2010/11 to 177 last year. There was a 20 per cent increase since 2013/14.

The report says: "There is a broad consensus that this type of crime continues to be under reported compared to other forms of hate crime.

"Both Police Scotland and COPFS (Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service) are engaged in a variety of activities aimed at increasing the level of awareness, especially amongst disability communities, that hate crime is unacceptable and should not be tolerated.''

The number of religiously aggravated charges reported is at its lowest level since 2004-05 - with 569 cases.