Catholic anger at growth in sectarian crimes

Published on Wednesday 18 May 2011 16:31

THE Catholic Church has criticised a failure to tackle sectarianism following a rise of almost 10 per cent in charges for religiously motivated crimes - and warned it goes deeper than footballing rivalry.

The Church said questions need to be asked after new Scottish Government figures also showed charges for racist offences going down.

It follows a football season blighted by sectarian bigotry, which has seen explosives, bullets and knives sent to key figures, including Celtic manager Neil Lennon and lawyers Donald Findlay and Paul McBride.

Peter Kearney, a spokesman for the Catholic Church in Scotland, said: "These hate-crime statistics make depressing reading. The fact that religiously motivated crime has increased as racially motivated attacks have fallen is particularly unfortunate.

"Agencies tackling racially motivated crime seem to be doing the right thing; why are those agencies given funding to tackle sectarianism not having the same effect?"

He added: "Clearly the number of (religiously motivated] convictions is significantly higher than the number charged during football matches, reinforcing the point made by the Catholic Church that sectarianism in Scotland is not primarily a football matter, although football does provide an outlet for bigotry.

"We welcome the Scottish Government's commitment to publish a full analysis of religiously motivated crime later this year following which informed and targeted action will be possible."

In 2010-11, 693 criminal charges were aggravated by religious prejudice - a rise of 9.7 per cent to its highest level since 2006-7.

At the same time, racially aggravated charges fell to 4,165, the lowest level for at least five years, with 92 per cent of cases reaching court.

Among new hate crimes, 50 charges involved prejudice against disability, while 448 were because of the victim's sexual orientation.

Alan Dickson, chief executive of Capability Scotland, said: "Capability fought for many years to ensure that those who committed hate crimes against disabled people were suitably dealt with by the Scottish justice system.

"The feedback we get from those who use our education, care and employment services, and the number of calls to our advice line receives on this subject, would suggest that this figure will grow considerably as disabled people feel more confident to report these despicable crimes."

Solicitor General Frank Mulholland, QC, said: "I welcome the high prosecution rate for crimes of religious prejudice. Recently we have all seen the damaging results of such crime. I want to reassure the public that our prosecution policy is extremely robust, with 94 per cent of charges leading to court proceedings.

"I hope this sends a strong message to anybody who still feels that such behaviour is acceptable - there is no place for them in a modern Scotland.

"They can expect to be met with a zero-tolerance prosecution policy.

"The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service are absolutely determined to play our part in confronting the problems of sectarianism and other religious offences, and we will do all in our power to bring those who perpetrate such crimes to justice."

Justice secretary Kenny Mac-Askill said: "Such action is utterly unacceptable in a modern Scotland and those responsible are being punished through the full force of the law. "The high prosecution rate shows that these people are finding out the hard way the consequences of their actions, but as we announced earlier this week, we are about to make Scotland's laws even tougher.

"We will be bringing forward new legislation to crack down on such behaviour with a maximum sentence of up to five years in prison and. These new laws will send out a clear message that there is no hiding place for these bigots."

Chief Constable Justine Curran of Acpos added: "Hate crime divides our communities and has a devastating affect on victims, their family members and the wider community. The increase in charges related to religiously motivated crime reflects our commitment to bring to justice those who still think that this behaviour is acceptable."