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YOUNG PEOPLE AND CRIME IN SCOTLAND: FINDINGS FROM THE 2000 SCOTTISH CRIME SURVEY

CHAPTER FIVE: YOUNG PEOPLE AND THE POLICE

The young person's questionnaire included a number of questions exploring respondent's experience of and attitudes towards the police.

CONTACT WITH THE POLICE

Respondents were asked to indicate whether they had ever had a range of different types of contact with the police. Table 5.1 shows the results. Seven out of ten (70%) had ever come into contact with the police in at least one of the ways listed. The most common form of contact was 'being given a talk at school by the police', followed by 'being told off or told to move on' and 'being stopped and asked questions'. Males (74%) and those aged 14-15 (76%) were both more likely to have had contact with the police than females (65%) and respondents aged 12-13 years (64%). Perhaps unsurprisingly, contact with the police was more common among offenders (93%) than non-offenders (58%).

Table 5.1: Types of Police Contact Experienced by Young People, Ever

Notes:
1. More than one response permitted.
2. Source: 2000 SCS (all Scotland, weighted data), Young Person's Self-Completion Questionnaire (N=281).

Respondents were also asked whether, since the beginning of the last summer holidays, they had had any of the following forms of adversarial contact with the police while they were out:

• stopped them and asked questions
• stopped and searched them
• told them off or told them to move on

Just over a third (36%) said they had been in contact with the police in at least one of the above ways. Around three in ten (31%) young people said that they had been told off or asked to move on by police, 24% said they had been stopped and asked questions and 5% said they had been stopped and searched. Differences were noted across demographic and experiential variables. A higher proportion of males (42%) than females (30%), 14-15 year olds (47%) compared to 12-13 year olds (25%) and young people from social classes D and E (44%) compared to those in A and B (27%) had experienced some form of recent adversarial contact, as had offenders (62%) compared to non-offenders (26%) and victims (41%) compared to non-victims (31%).

Over half (51%) of those who had some form of recent adversarial police contact had experience of more than one type and 9% had experienced all three types. Predictably, young people who committed offences were more likely to have experienced more than one type of police contact (63%) than those who had not (38%). No other significant differences were observed.

The majority (95%, n=137) of these respondents provided further details about their most recent experience of police contact. Most recently, 60% said they had been told off or told to move on, 36% had been stopped and asked questions and 4% had been stopped and searched.

Over half (57%) of young people who had been told off or told to move on had experienced this on more than one occasion, as had 44% of those stopped and asked questions and 39% of those stopped and searched. It appears from this that when young people experience adversarial police contact, they do so relatively intensively.

REACTIONS TO POLICE CONTACT

Fourteen per cent of those who had had recent adversarial contact with the police could not remember whether or not they were given a reason by the police for their actions. However, just over half (52%) said that they were given a reason. Those who were stopped and asked questions were slightly more likely to be given a reason (58%) than those who were told to move on (50%) or those who were stopped and searched (38%). When 'unsure' responses were excluded, offenders were less likely to state that they had been given a reason (49%) for police contact compared to non-offenders (75%). Only 3% of young people who had experienced a recent police contact were taken to the police station as a result and in 36% of cases their parents came to know about the incident.

Overall, 60% of those who had had recent police contact thought they had been treated 'very' or 'quite' fairly. Offenders were less likely to state they had been 'very' or 'quite' fairly treated by police (52%) than non-offenders (70%). The group least likely to be content with the conduct of the police was those who were stopped and searched (see Figure 5.1).

Figure 5.1: How Fairly the Police Treated the Respondents by Type of Contact

Note: Source: 2000 SCS (all Scotland, weighted data), Young Person's Self-Completion (N=Told off/told to move on: 81, Stopped and searched: 5, Stopped and asked questions: 47).

Attitudes Towards the Police

In order to gauge young people's general perceptions of the police, they were asked whether they agreed or disagreed with two statements:

• The police are less fair to young people than other people
• The police are generally helpful and friendly towards young people

Also, they were asked, for the first time in the 2000 Survey, how well they got on with the police in their area.

Table 5.2 shows that there was a great deal of uncertainty amongst young people about how they perceived the police. There was no consensus of opinion with regard to the fairness of the police towards young people. While over half thought that the police were helpful towards them, almost one in three were unsure about this statement. When 'unsure' responses were excluded, older respondents (aged 14-15 years) were more likely to regard the police as being less fair to young people (60% agreed with the first statement compared to 39% of 12-13 year olds). They were also less likely to feel the police were helpful (66% agreed with the second statement compared to 77% of 12-13 year olds).

Table 5.2: View on Statements about the Police

As would be expected, those who had recent contact with the police differed in their views of the police from those who had not. Table 5.3 shows how young people who had had different levels of police contact perceived the police. Those who had had no contact with the police had a more positive view of them as helpful and friendly or fair in their approach to young people compared to those who had had recent contact. Generally, the more recent the police contact, the more likely young people were to have negative views of the police.

Table 5.3: Agreement with Statements about the Police by whether had Police Contact

Note: Answers indicating the respondent was 'unsure' are excluded from analysis.

Opinions of the police were also affected by whether young people had committed offences. Offenders were less positive than non-offenders in their attitudes towards the police (43% compared to 61% of non-offenders agreed with the first statement; 57% compared with 80% of non-offenders agreed with the second statement).

Six out of ten young people (59%) said that they got on 'very' or 'quite' well with the police in their area. When those who did not express an opinion were excluded, offenders were less likely to have positive relations with police in their area (85%) than non-offenders (94%). Those who had recently experienced police contact were less likely to report positive relations (84%) than either those who had not had contact (97%) ³⁶ or those who had police contact, but not recently (94%).

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