MORE than 400 homophobic crimes were reported in Scotland last year.
Prosecutors said in the first full year since hate-crime laws were introduced 448 charges were made for crimes aggravated by prejudice over sexual orientation.
Another 14 charges – the first ever – were recorded for crimes involving prejudice against transgender people, reports the Herald. Gay and lesbian rights groups welcomed the figures but believe the number of charges will soar this year and next as confidence in the new laws grows. Stonewall Scotland said its research showed most victims of homophobic crime were still not reporting incidents to the police.
Director Carl Watt said: “These figures give us an indication of the prejudice that still exists across Scotland towards people due to their sexual orientation or gender identity, prejudice which has no place in modern Scotland.”
Police forces previously recorded incidents they believe to be homophobic, a different measure. As The Herald revealed last month, these more than doubled in the past five years in Strathclyde alone. Figures for other hate crime are more stable. Race charges were down by 3.6% at 4165. Cases aggravated by religious bigotry were up, at 693, by nearly 10% from 2009-10 and at their highest since 2006-2007. Between 600 and 700 such charges have been brought over each of the last five years.
Stonewall wants more details given for homophobic and transphobic cases.
The Catholic Church wants to know more about victims of religious hate crime. Research suggests Catholics are the most targeted. Peter Kearney from the church said: “The fact that religiously motivated crime has increased as racially motivated attacks have fallen is particularly unfortunate.”
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