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THE 2000 SCOTTISH CRIME SURVEY: OVERVIEW REPORT
Chapter 2 Extent of Crime in Scotland
How Much Crime?
The SCS is referred to by the year in which the data collection was undertaken. However, the data concerning the number of crimes refer to experiences over the previous calendar year. Thus the 2000 SCS collects information about victimisation in 1999. The 2000 SCS estimates that around 843,000 crimes were committed against individuals and households in 1999 1 ( see Appendix A2.1).
Figure 2.1 shows that, of the crimes reported to the 2000 SCS, nearly two-thirds (62%) were committed against property, the remainder being against people. Overall, just under a third (30%) of all crimes involved motor vehicles.
Figure 2.1: Distribution of Crimes in Scotland 1999
Notes
1 'Vehicle thefts' includes attempted thefts
2 Source: 2000 SCS (all Scotland, weighted data) n=5,059.
Crimes involving violence (robbery and assault) accounted for one quarter (25%) of all crimes reported to the 2000 survey. This is an increase from the 1996 SCS and the 1993 SCS, when these types of crime accounted for 16% of all crimes experienced. As we shall see in Chapter 3, to a great extent, this reflects a fall in the level of other types of crime. For instance, between 1995 and 1999 there was a very significant drop in relatively minor crimes of dishonesty. The combined totals for attempted vehicle theft, theft from a motor vehicle and other household theft (which includes theft from gardens and garages) fell by 52% between 1995 and 1999.
Also, there was a change between the 1996 and 2000 surveys in that a new domestic violence 'screener question' 2 was incorporated in the survey for the first time. This had the effect of increasing the number of serious assault cases reported to the survey by 34%, and contributed 10% to an overall increase in violence of 33% between 1995 and 1999. Further details on these trends are provided in Chapter 3.
Property Theft
Half of all SCS crimes were property thefts - an estimated 414,000 such incidents occurred across Scotland in 1999. Figure 2.2 shows the estimated number of each type of property theft together with the associated confidence intervals 3. Definitions of the offence categories are given in Appendix F.
The estimated number of incidents of each type in 1999 are:
- 84,000 incidents of housebreaking (including attempted housebreaking). In 33,000 of these incidents something was stolen.
- 18,000 thefts of private motor vehicles, 71,000 thefts from motor vehicles, and 28,000 attempted thefts of or from motor vehicles
- 18,000 thefts of bicycles
- 82,000 other household thefts, which include thefts from gardens and outhouses and thefts from persons with a right to be in the house
- 20,000 thefts from the person which include actual and attempted stealth and snatch thefts such as pick-pocketing
- 94,000 other personal theft of property from a location other than the home.
Figure 2.2 Number of Property Thefts in 1999 and Associated Confidence Ranges
Note
1 Source: 2000 SCS (all Scotland, weighted data) n=5,059.
Vandalism
SCS estimates show that in 1999 there were 218,000 incidents of vandalism to private property (ie incidents of criminal damage where there was not attempted or actual theft). Of these incidents, 121,000 were acts of vandalism against motor vehicles. The remainder were against other private property, mainly against household property such as gardens and out-buildings.
Figure 2.3 Number of Vandalism Incidents in 1999 and Associated Confidence Ranges
Note
1 Source: 2000 SCS (all Scotland, weighted data) n=5,059.
Violence
The SCS classification of violence comprises incidents of robbery and assault. There were an estimated 210,000 211,000 incidents of violence in 1999, comprising 188,000 incidents of assault and 22,000 incidents of robbery.
Figure 2.4 Number of Violent Crimes in 1999 and Associated Confidence Ranges
Note
1 Source: 2000 SCS (all Scotland, weighted data) n=5,059.
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