The Scottish Government’s report on the operation of the offences under in section 1(1) and section 6(1) of the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Act 2012.

The Act placed a statutory requirement that Scottish Ministers must lay a report in the Scottish Parliament by 1 August 2015. The findings, conclusions and recommendations contained in the report are for a variety of organisations across Scotland to consider and respond.

A central objective of the Act was to tackle abusive behaviour, including sectarianism, by preventing offensive and threatening behaviour at and associated with football matches, and in doing so, aims to clarify and strengthen the law in relation to offensive singing and chanting, and prevent the communication of threatening material where it incites religious hatred or threatens serious violence.

Objectives

• This is a review of the international literature and evidence on what measures are considered to be most effective in tackling prejudice. It provides an overview of the key theoretical debates on prejudice reduction, outlines some of the most common interventions, and suggests some lessons that may influence the design of policy interventions in the future.
• The report focuses on high quality empirical studies, a mixture of interventions that were evaluated in 'real world' settings also lab-based psychological experiments.
• The report also reflects on the appropriateness and applicability of such interventions for tackling different types of prejudice in Scotland. This includes exploring some of the key lessons in relation to anti-sectarianism work.

Dr Duncan Morrow

Policy Briefing: Learning from Tackling Sectarianism in Scotland?

“What Works to Reduce Prejudice? A Review of the Evidence” was published on the 14th of October at a summit hosted by Paul Wheeler, the Minister for Community Safety and Legal Affairs.

The research was commissioned by the Scottish Government to review the evidence on activities and interventions that have been used to reduce prejudice previously.

Main findings include:

• There are two main theories of prejudice reduction - ‘Contact’ where exposure to others reduces prejudice itself and ‘education’ where information about other groups provides a challenge to negative attitudes;
• Sustained activities have more impact than short-term interventions; and
• Overly dramatic and factually incorrect interpretations of prejudice for the purpose of ‘hard hitting’ messages could risk alienating sections of the audience

The Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Act 2012 (hereafter referred to as the Act) came into force on 1st March 2012. The Act criminalises behaviour which is threatening, hateful or otherwise offensive at a regulated football match including offensive singing or chanting where it is likely to lead to public disorder. It also criminalises the communication of threats of serious violence and threats intended to incite religious hatred.

This report focusses on offensive behaviour at regulated football matches and provides an analysis of charges reported to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) in the financial year of 1st April 2015 to 31st March 2016.

This report provides information about the locations, dates of charges, the nature of the offensive behaviour, the age and the gender of the accused, and the nature of the victims.

This report presents information about religiously aggravated offending in Scotland in 2015-16 based on a review of police charges issued under section 74 of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003. The Act4 states that an offence is aggravated by religious prejudice if: 

a) at the time of committing the offence or immediately before or after doing so, the offender evinces towards the victim (if any) of the offence malice and illwill based on the victim‟s membership (or presumed membership) of a religious group, or of a social or cultural group with a perceived religious affiliation; or 

b) the offence is motivated (wholly or partly) by malice and ill-will towards members of a religious group, or of a social or cultural group with a perceived religious affiliation, based on their membership of that group. 

Research aims:

This report presents a breakdown of the charges reported to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) in 2015-16 to provide insight into the nature of religiously aggravated offending in Scotland. The research sought to find out the age and sex of the accused; who the offensive conduct was directed towards; where the incidents took place; if they were related to alcohol, drugs, football, marches or parades; which religions were targeted; and the provisional court outcomes of charges.

This publication provides details of hate crime reported to the Procurator Fiscal in Scotland in 2015-16, and earlier years. It also provides details of charges reported under the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Act 2012. The relevant legislative provisions are provided in Annex 1.

At a summit convened by the Scottish Government on 14 October 2015, Ministers announced their intention to establish an Independent Advisory Group on Hate Crime,
Prejudice and Community Cohesion. The main purpose of the group was to provide evidenced findings and recommendations which the Scottish Government can take
forward in partnership with communities to help eliminate hate crime for good.

This is their report to Scottish Government with a number of recommendations that have been made.

1. The findings and recommendations contained in this report are the outcome of discussions that took place between Dr Michael Rosie and a range of interested parties, including march and parade organisers, those who have held static demonstrations, local authorities and Police Scotland. It reflects the views, opinions and experiences emerging from those discussions and from additional observation and research conducted by Dr Rosie.

2. The aims of this report, and the recommendations contained in it, are to add constructively to the discussions taking place on marches and parades, outline key areas where further work is needed and provide some direction as to where efforts would be best focused to ensure processes works effectively and fairly. 

3. While this report makes clear that the processes involved in the marches and parades system, by and large, work well the majority of the time, a number of recommendations are made, calling for: greater clarity on a number of key issues, dialogue to strengthen good relations, and better engagement to ensure that where
problems do occur, these can be dealt with constructively and in an environment of good faith. 

A review of the progress that has been made in the implementation of the recommendations of the independent Advisory Group on Tackling Sectarianism in Scotland, and to provide Scottish Ministers with a report highlighting both progress and good practice and areas where further work is required.

Specifically to:

• Obtain updates from all of the organisations and sectors which were identified in the Advisory Group’s report as needing to take action to tackle sectarianism in Scotland.
• Highlight good practice and identify examples of good leadership which have been shown in relation to advancing the recommendations made by the Advisory Group.
• If time allows, look at examples of good practice and good leadership which are outwith the scope of the Advisory Group recommendations.
• Identify areas where progress and leadership are lacking and where sectarianism has been allowed to go unchallenged.
• Highlight what further action is required to tackle sectarianism in Scotland and who is best placed to deliver this.

The Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Act 2012 (hereafter referred to as the Act) came into force on 1st March 2012. The Act criminalises behaviour which is threatening, hateful2 or otherwise offensive at a regulated football match including offensive singing or chanting where it is likely to lead to public disorder. It also criminalises the communication of threats of serious violence and threats intended to incite religious hatred.

This report focusses on offensive behaviour at regulated football matches and provides an analysis of charges reported to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal service (COPFS) in the whole financial year of 1st April 2016 to 31st March 2017.

This report provides information about the locations, dates of charges, the nature of the offensive behaviour, the age and the gender of the accused, and the nature of the victims.

This report presents information about religiously aggravated offending in Scotland in 2016-17 based on a review of police charges issued under section 74 of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003. The Act3 states that an offence is aggravated by religious prejudice if:

a) at the time of committing the offence or immediately before or after doing so, the offender evinces towards the victim (if any) of the offence malice and ill-will based on the victim’s membership (or presumed membership) of a religious group, or of a social or cultural group with a perceived religious affiliation; or

b) the offence is motivated (wholly or partly) by malice and ill-will towards members of a religious group, or of a social or cultural group with a perceived religious affiliation, based on their membership of that group.

A breakdown of Hate Crime statistics by the Crown Office Procurator Fiscals Service 2010/11 - 2016/17.

This publication provides details of hate crime reported to the Procurator Fiscal in Scotland in 2016-17, and earlier years. It also provides details of charges reported under the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Act 2012. The relevant legislative provisions are provided in Annex 1.

The Scottish Government launched the Tackling Sectarianism programme fund in 2012. Over the five years of the programme £12.5m has been committed to help build understanding of the nature, extent and impact of intra-Christian sectarianism2 in Scotland. The funding of community-based approaches was carried out alongside work undertaken by an independent national Advisory Group, who produced a series of reports and recommendations about the direction of the programme over the period 2012-2015. The Scottish Government also conducted two evidence reviews on intra-Christian sectarianism in Scotland in 2013 and 2015.

This document is an evaluation of the programme from 2012 - 2016.

This is the summary report of an evaluation of the Tackling Sectarianism programme fund that took place between December 2016 and March 2017. Scottish Government launched the Tackling Sectarianism programme fund in 2012. Over the five years of the programme £12.5m has been committed to help build understanding of the nature, extent and impact of sectarianism in Scotland. Since 2012, 108 organisations have been funded to deliver 120 projects across Scotland. Scottish Government commissioned the Voluntary Action Fund (VAF) to act as grant administrators and provide development and capacity building support to funded organisations. The funding of community-based approaches was carried out alongside work undertaken by an independent national Advisory Group, who produced a series of reports and recommendations about the direction of the programme over the period 2012-2015.

Lord Bracadale was appointed by Scottish Ministers in January 2017 to conduct an independent review of hate crime legislation in Scotland. His recommendations were provided to Scottish Ministers in the Independent Review of Hate Crime Legislation in Scotland, published on 31st May 2018. The report considers:

• the current law and consider how well it deals with hate crime behaviour

• whether new statutory aggravations should be created for example in relation to age and gender

• whether the religious statutory aggravation is fit for purpose or should be expanded

• whether we should make hate crime laws simpler by bringing them all together in one place

• any issues or gaps in the framework for hate crime laws and to make sure that hate crime laws are compatible with laws that protect human rights and equality

Lord Bracadale’s report provides his recommendations which are based on evidence and what he has learnt from a wide range of people about their experiences of hate crime and the impact that this can have on individuals and communities. Lord Bracadale’s report considers whether hate crime laws are needed, what is working well under the current system and should be retained, what should be changed and what the benefit would be and what policy and procedural developments are underway or planned.

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Although the language of sectarianism is commonly used in day-to-day life, it has never been used or defined in Scots Law. This report is advisory and a first step in considering whether sectarianism should have a legal definition and, if so, what that definition could look like.

The Working Group was tasked with identifying challenges involved in the facilitation and regulation of processions, including those relating to the notification process, in Scotland. A human rights-based approach has been central to our work in seeking to identify processes capable of achieving an appropriate balance between the rights of organisers/participants and the rights of non-participants and communities impacted by these events. We were specifically asked to look at how the Northern Ireland Parades Commission works and whether there was any learning that could be extracted from this model and adapted for Scotland.