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THE 2000 SCOTTISH CRIME SURVEY: OVERVIEW REPORT
Chapter 5 Comparisons with Crime Levels in England and Wales
Since the inception of the independent Scottish Crime Survey in 1993, the British Crime Survey (BCS) has only covered England and Wales. As the design of the BCS is broadly similar to that of the SCS, it is possible to draw comparisons between crime rates from the two surveys, and to compare trends in crime.
Trends 1981-1995
In 1981, crime survey victimisation rates in Scotland were similar to those in England and Wales. By 1987, Scotland was exhibiting lower rates for most types of crime. The 1993 SCS showed that, when compared to the findings of the 1992 BCS in England and Wales, the gap had widened further and that Scottish victimisation rates were lower for all categories of crime. The expansion of the survey area in 1993 to include Grampian and the Highlands and Islands caused victimisation rates in Scotland to drop, and contributed to the widening of the gap between Scotland and England & Wales, although providing a truer picture of the difference. A comparison of the 1996 SCS with the 1996 BCS showed that the difference in crime rates between Scotland and England and Wales had increased further for all types of crime (see previous Scottish Crime Survey reports for more detail).
Comparison of crime rates in 1999
The findings of the 2000 SCS show that crime rates in Scotland continued to be lower in 1999 for all types of crime compared to those in England & Wales (Table 5.1, victimisation rates). With the exception of bicycle theft (measured among bicycle owners only), the risk of crime in Scotland was also lower than in England & Wales (Table 5.1, prevalence rates). The difference between the crime rates of Scotland and England & Wales has however decreased since 1995 for all offence types except theft from a motor vehicle, attempted theft of/from a motor vehicle and other household theft. These changes are largely due to decreasing crime rates for housebreaking and personal crime in England and Wales combined with static or increasing crime rates for these categories in Scotland over the same period.
It should be noted that differences in the survey administration, design and recent changes in the method of compiling offences for the BCS may affect comparability between the surveys. These differences are, however, unlikely to account for the differences observed between the crime rates.
Table 5.1 Comparison of Victimisation Rates for Scotland and England & Wales 1999
| Victimisation Rates | Prevalence Rates |
Scotland | England &Wales | % Difference | Scotland | England & Wales | % Difference |
Housebreaking | 385 | 585 | -34 | 3.2 | 4.3 | -26 |
All Vehicle theft* | 534 | 1,347 | -60 | 7.2 | 12.6 | -43 |
Thefts from vehicle* | 323 | 825 | -61 | 4.4 | 8.1 | -46 |
Theft of vehicle* | 82 | 152 | -46 | 1.2 | 1.8 | -33 |
Attempted vehicle theft* | 129 | 370 | -65 | 1.7 | 3.7 | -54 |
Bicycle theft* | 82 | 181 | -55 | 2.0 | 1.5 | +33 |
Theft from person + | 47 | 146 | -68 | 0.4 | 1.4 | -71 |
Vandalism | 999 | 1,300 | -23 | 6.0 | 7.8 | -23 |
Vehicle vandalism | 554 | 718 | -23 | 3.8 | 5.0 | -24 |
Household vandalism | 445 | 582 | -24 | 2.4 | 3.1 | -23 |
Assault + | 458 | 676 | -32 | 2.6 | - | - |
Robbery + | 54 | 84 | -36 | 0.3 | 0.5 | -40 |
Other household theft | 439 | 874 | -50 | 3.0 | 6.2 | -52 |
Other personal theft + | 228 | 358 | -36 | 2.0 | 3.0 | -33 |
Total household offences | 2,374 | 4,287 | -45 | 15.3 | 24.6 | -38 |
Total personal offences + | 788 | 1,264 | -38 | 4.8 | 8.0 | -40 |
Notes:
- Victimisation rates are per 10,000 households except for those marked + which are per 10,000 adults.
- Prevalence rates show the percentage of households/ people who have been the victim of each type of crime at least once. The categories marked * are for vehicle/ bike owners only.
- The '% difference' is the rate for England and Wales subtracted from the rate for Scotland expressed as a percentage of the rate for England and Wales.
- Prevalence rates are not available for the aggregate category 'assault' for the BCS.
- The category 'Other household theft' includes 'Theft in a dwelling'.
- Source: SCS 2000 (all Scotland, weighted data); BCS 2000 (weighted data).
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