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RECORDED CRIMES AND OFFENCES INVOLVING FIREARMS, SCOTLAND, 2001

8. Annex : Notes on statistics used in this bulletin.

Returns

1. The statistics in this bulletin are derived from returns submitted by police forces in respect of crimes and offences recorded by them in which a firearm is alleged to have been used. A crime or offence is counted in the same way as in the statistics of all crimes and offences recorded by the police. The firearms return used to collect the statistics in this bulletin was revised in January 1993. The major change involved moving from an offence based return to an incident based return. In incidents where several crimes or offences occur each crime or offence within the incident is counted. A return is submitted for each incident where a crime or offence in which a firearm is alleged to have been involved with the exception of cases where an airweapon is recklessly handled causing neither injury nor damage to property. However the information in this bulletin is based on crimes and offences involving the alleged use of firearms not incidents.

2. The figures given in this bulletin are subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system; in particular it is possible that some of the inter-force variations shown in Tables 13 and 13A arise from differences in procedure or different force interpretation. The move to an incident rather than individual offence based recording system revealed some undercounting of offences involving firearms in years prior to 1994.

3. Contraventions of Scottish criminal law are divided for statistical purposes into crimes and offences. The term 'crime' is generally used for the more serious criminal acts; the less serious are termed 'offences', although the term 'offence' may also be used in relation to serious breaches of criminal law. To avoid unnecessary repetition of the term 'recorded crimes and offences' throughout this publication reference is simply made to 'offences'. This should be interpreted to mean recorded crimes and offences. The reference to the 'use' of firearms throughout the bulletin should also be interpreted to include the 'alleged use' of firearms.

4. The main firearm is that which inflicts the most serious injury or damage or, in cases where no injury or damage is caused, that firearm considered potentially most dangerous. Only about 2 per cent of offences in which a firearm is alleged to have been used involve more than one firearm. The 'Other firearms' category includes weapons such as starting guns. From 1988, crossbows were included in the 'Other' category. The 'Imitation' category includes replica and imitation weapons.

5. Following the Dunblane incident changes to the existing firearms legislation were introduced to enhance public safety. As a result, the Firearms (Amendment) Act 1997 ("the 1997 Act") was implemented and thereafter the Firearms (Amendment)(No.2) Act 1997 ("the 1997 (No.2) Act"). Under the 1997 Act, all pistols (otherwise referred to as "handguns") over .22 calibre were banned with effect from 1 October 1997. A hand-in scheme between 1 July and 30 September 1997 resulted in the surrender of 6,262 large calibre handguns in Scotland, while 1,751 small calibre handguns were also handed in voluntarily. Similarly, there was a second hand-in period between 1 February and 28 February 1998 for the surrender of all small calibre handguns (up to and including .22 calibre). The 1997 (No.2) Act came into effect from 1 March 1998. A number of types of handgun were exempted from the 1997 (No.2) Act including muzzle-loading guns, shot pistols, slaughtering instruments, firearms used for the humane killing of animals, trophies of war etc.

6. Details of the age and sex of the main victim are collected only for offences in which injury is caused. The main victim is the person most seriously injured. Cases involving injury to animals are recorded under the category property damage rather than injury - which is reserved solely for the purposes of recording injuries to persons.

7. Details of the age and sex of the main accused are collected for offences cleared up. In offences involving injury or damage the main accused is the person who inflicts the most serious injury or damage. In other instances, it is taken to be the oldest person.

8. The figures for 2001 in this bulletin are provisional. Late returns (for example where a crime or offence is subsequently cleared up) will result in revisions in the next issue of this bulletin.

Crimes and offences cleared up

9. The definition of 'cleared up' was revised with effect from 1 April 1996. Previously, a crime or offence was regarded as being cleared up if one or more offenders was apprehended, cited, warned or traced for it. This was revised as follows:

A crime or offence is regarded as cleared up where there exists a sufficiency of evidence under Scots law, to justify consideration of criminal proceedings notwithstanding that a report is not submitted to the procurator fiscal because either

(i) by standing agreement with the procurator fiscal, the police warn the accused due to the minor nature of the offence, or

(ii) reporting is inappropriate due to the non-age of the accused, death of the accused or other similar circumstances.

For some types of crimes and offences the case is cleared up immediately because the offender is caught in the act e.g. motoring offences. In Scots law, the confession of an accused person to a crime would not in general be sufficient to allow a prosecution to be taken, as corroborative evidence is required. Thus, a case cannot be regarded as 'cleared up' on the basis of a confession alone.

Classification

The classification of crimes and offences used by The Scottish Executive Justice Department for criminal statistics contains about 350 codes. These are grouped in this bulletin as follows: -

The following symbols are used throughout the tables in this bulletin.

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