On Thursday 10th February, we hosted an online webinar on Understanding Hate Crime. The event was an opportunity to learn more about hate crime with inputs from those on the front line in communities as well as some of the latest research.


Over 100 people attended – the largest webinar the SCSN has hosted to date!


The driver for the event was in response to increasing numbers of hate crimes in Scotland today. We know that these types of crimes do not only affect the individual but can have a pervasive impact on entire communities. We also know that we have a lot further to go to adequately address this issue in Scotland. With this in mind, the SCSN felt the community safety sector need to continue to work together to better our understanding of hate crime and improve this national picture.

On the day, we had sessions from:

  • Rania Hamad on her doctoral research ‘How and why hate crime occurs: exploring
    the accounts of people convicted of hate crime in Scotland’
  • Dr Joe Webster on the bonding effect of hate, through his recent publication ‘The
    Religion of Orange Politics’
    -Nina Munday from The Fife Centre for Equalities on community perspectives and
    experiences of hate crime
  • Abdul Rahim and Sam Tedcastle from the Centre for Good Relations CIC will explore
    the use of tension monitoring processes to assess community relations and detect
    tensions, and consider the merits of introducing similar processes in Scotland.

Read the event learning report here.