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THE 2000 SCOTTISH CRIME SURVEY: OVERVIEW REPORT

Executive Summary

The 2000 Scottish Crime Survey (SCS) was a household survey undertaken with 5,059 adults (aged 16 or over) throughout Scotland. This was the fifth such survey to have been conducted in Scotland. The 1982 and 1988 British Crime Survey covered Central and Southern Scotland. In 1993 an independent Scottish Crime Survey was introduced which covered all mainland Scotland and the larger islands. This was repeated in 1996 and 2000.

The Scottish Crime Survey provides an index of crime in Scotland which complements the official police recorded crime statistics by estimating the extent of crimes which are experienced by people, whether or not they are reported to or recorded by the police. This report presents the main findings from the 2000 SCS, providing comparisons with the previous Scottish surveys, the British Crime Survey findings for England and Wales and Scottish police recorded crime statistics. Separate reports providing further, more detailed information on individual subjects such as vehicle crime, housebreaking and young people will be published in due course (see back page).

Chapter 1 provides a general introduction to the report, explains the purpose and limitations of crime surveys and provides an overview of the survey design. Chapter 2 gives estimates of the level of crime in Scotland, while Chapter 3 examines trends over time. Chapters 4 and 5 compare SCS findings to police recorded crime statistics and to the British Crime Survey findings for England and Wales. Chapter 6 looks at variations in the risk of victimisation between types of people and households. Chapter 7 discusses fear of crime and public reactions to crime.

The main findings reported in Chapters 2-7 from the 2000 SCS are presented in summary form below.

How much crime?

• Estimates derived from the 2000 SCS suggest that in 1999, around 843,000 crimes were committed against individuals and households.
• Two thirds of all crimes were committed against property, the remainder being against people.
• Overall, nearly a third of all crimes were against motor vehicles.
• A quarter of all crimes involved violence (robbery and assault).

Are Crime Levels Rising?

• According to the SCS there was a 13% fall in the total number of crimes between 1995 and 1999, from around 969,000 crimes in 1995 to around 843,000 in 1999. This continues the downward trend recorded in the previous survey - there was a drop of 8% in the total number of crimes between 1992 and 1995.
• Levels of housebreaking were unchanged between 1995 and 1999, although the proportion of housebreaking incidents in which the offender actually gained entry fell from 62% in 1995 to 51% in 1999.
• There was a 47% decrease in the number of vehicle related thefts (theft of vehicle, theft from vehicle and attempted theft) between 1995 and 1999.
• The number of incidents of motor vehicle vandalism show little change between 1992 and 1999. For all other types of vandalism, SCS estimates show a 25% rise between 1992 and 1995, but a 19% drop between 1995 and 1999.
• There was a 33% rise in the number of violent crimes between 1995 and 1999. The relative rarity of these crimes means a high margin of error and the rise was therefore not statistically significant. However, police recorded crime statistics also show a marked increase in violent crime, suggesting that a real increase did take place.

How much crime is recorded by the police?

• Only the SCS categories of vandalism, housebreaking, theft of a vehicle, theft of a bicycle, assault and robbery can be compared to police recorded crime statistics. The SCS estimates that 548,900 such crimes were committed in 1999, while police recorded crime statistics show a comparable figure of 180,300. Therefore the number of comparable crimes recorded by the police was 33% of the number estimated by the SCS in 1999. This proportion is slightly lower than that recorded in 1995 (37%) and 1992 (39%).
• SCS findings show that there was a sizeable increase in levels of reporting to the police between 1981 and 1992. While reporting levels tailed off in 1995, the 2000 SCS shows that in 1999 there was an increase beyond the previously highest level seen in 1992. In 1999, 53% of all SCS crimes were reported to the police. The British Crime Survey shows that just 39% of incidents were reported to the police in England and Wales.

Do crime levels in Scotland differ to England and Wales?

• In 1981, crime survey victimisation rates were similar in Scotland to those in England and Wales, but by 1987 Scotland had lower rates for most types of crime. In 1993, when the SCS included Grampian and the Highlands and Islands, a more accurate estimate of Scottish crime levels was derived, and the observed gap between victimisation rates in Scotland and England and Wales widened further. The 1996 SCS showed that the difference had increased further for all types of crime.
• The 2000 SCS showed that victimisation rates continued to be lower in Scotland than in England and Wales for all types of crime. However, the gap has closed since 1995 for all offence types other than theft from a motor vehicle, attempted theft of/from a motor vehicle and other household theft.

What are the risks of crime?

• A fifth (20%) of adults were victims of at least one of the types of crime covered by the survey in 1999 (compared to 23% in 1995). Fifteen per cent of households had experienced an incident of property crime in 1999 (compared to 19% in 1995).
• Seven per cent of vehicle-owning households had experienced any type of vehicle theft (including attempts).
• Despite the large increase between 1995 and 1999 in violent crime rates (robbery and assault), the proportion of people affected remained small, at only 3%.
• In terms of variations in the risk of becoming a victim, successive sweeps of the SCS have consistently shown the following groups to be at most risk:
• • Males, people aged 16-24 and those living in high rise flats are at most risk of violent crime.
  • Owner occupiers are most at risk of vandalism
  • Those living in a council or housing association home and living on council estates (particularly those classified as most deprived) are most at risk of housebreaking
  • Households in the poorest council estates, those living in council or housing association homes and those living in densely populated areas are most likely to be victims of motor vehicle thefts
• Only 9% of those who had experienced a housebreaking in 1999 had been the victim of two or more such incidents. However, the small group of victims (4%) who had suffered three or more incidents accounted for 15% of all housebreakings reported to the survey.
• Twenty nine percent of households who had been victims of vandalism in 1999 had experienced two or more incidents of vandalism. Eleven per cent of victims of vehicle-related thefts had experienced more than one incident.
• Of all victims of violence, 30% had experienced more than one violent incident. A quarter had experienced three or more incidents, accounting for half of all violent incidents reported to the survey in 1999.

How concerned are people about crime?

• From a range of social issues only drug abuse was more frequently considered to be an 'extremely serious' problem in Scotland than crime. However, the 28% of respondents who gave this view in 2000 was a significantly smaller proportion than in 1996 who considered crime to be an 'extremely serious' problem (44%).
• Despite generally falling levels of concern about crime, 41% of respondents felt that there was more crime in their local area than two years previously.
• When respondents were presented with a list of types of offence and asked how common they felt they were in their local area, the proportion considering each one as very or fairly common was lower in 2000 than in 1996 (with the exception of vehicle vandalism which remained much the same).
• Seven per cent of respondents felt that it was very or fairly likely that their home would be broken into within the next year. This is a slight decrease from 9% in 1996.
• Five percent thought they were likely to be the victim of violence in the next year (similar to the 6% of respondents in 1996). The perceived likelihood of becoming a victim of violence was highest amongst young men.
• Forty per cent of women and 14% of men said they felt 'a bit' or 'very' unsafe when walking alone after dark. These were lower proportions than in 1996 (47% of women and 20% of men).
• Forty eight percent of respondents were worried that they or someone they lived with might be a victim of crime - similar to the proportion in 1996 (50%). Women were more likely than men to have this concern.
• Just over half (53%) of those with children in the household worried about the children being victimised.
• The crimes about which respondents were most commonly 'very or fairly worried' were vehicle vandalism (53% of respondents) and theft from a car (47%). A third of respondents were worried about assault.
• Nearly all (94%) homes had some kind of security features. The most common were doors with double locks or deadlocks (on 68% of homes), security locks on windows (62%) and security chains or bolts on doors (51%). Eighteen per cent of homes had a burglar alarm. Six out of ten of those who had ever been the victim of housebreaking said that they had made security improvements as a result of what happened.
• Most homes (86%) were insured against theft. Most affluent groups were the most likely to have insurance.
• Nearly all (95%) vehicle owners had some security features on their vehicle. The most common were security coded radios (74%) and central locking (72%). There was a considerable increase in the use of security measures on vehicles between 1996 and 2000.

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