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DOMESTIC ABUSE RECORDED BY THE POLICE IN SCOTLAND, 1 JANUARY - 31 DECEMBER 2002
3. Commentary
3.1 Incidents of domestic abuse recorded by the police
- The police returned details covering 36,010 incidents of domestic abuse in 2002, a 0.3 per cent increase compared to the 35,891 incidents recorded in 2001.
- As in previous years, the majority of incidents recorded in 2002 (59 per cent (21,273)) comprised behaviour that did not lead to the recording of a crime or offence. Forty one per cent (14,737) of incidents comprised at least one crime or offence.
- The most common crime or offence recorded in 2002, was a recording of an offence of petty assault, 19 per cent (6,714) of all incidents, or breach of the peace, 14 per cent (5,083) of all incidents.
- Crimes, which are generally regarded as more serious than offences, were recorded in respect of 8 per cent (2,723) of all incidents.
- Where a crime was recorded, it was likely to be vandalism, 3 per cent (989) of all incidents, or a crime against public justice (typically bail offences and resisting arrest), 2 per cent (846) of all incidents.
3.2 Incidents of domestic abuse per 100,000 population
- The incidence of domestic abuse reported to the police ranged from 880 per 100,000 population in Tayside down to 563 in Fife, compared with an overall Scottish incidence of 712 per 100,000 population.
- The range may be partly explained by differences in police recording of domestic abuse incidents not classed as a crime or offence. When these are excluded, Grampian has the highest incidence (760 per 100,000 population) whilst Central has the lowest (152 per 100,000 population).
- There was somewhat less variation between forces in the incidence of cases of domestic abuse which resulted in a referral to the procurator fiscal. These ranged from 304 per 100,000 population in Tayside down to 83 per 100,000 population in Dumfries & Galloway.
3.3 Incidents of domestic abuse by gender of victim and perpetrator
- In 2002, the victim was female in 90 per cent of incidents of domestic abuse recorded where the gender of the victim was recorded.
- The perpetrator was male in 91 per cent of incidents of domestic abuse where a perpetrator's gender was recorded.
- Incidents with a female victim and male perpetrator represented 90 per cent of all incidents of domestic abuse where this information was recorded.
3.4 Level of repeat victimisation
- For those incidents where information was available on whether or not the victim had previously been reported as being a domestic abuse victim, about half of the cases involved known repeat victimisation.
- Where the number of previous incidents was known, 33 per cent of cases involved a single previous incident, 34 per cent of cases involved two or three previous incidents, 14 per cent of cases involved four or five previous incidents, 12 per cent of cases there had been between six and ten previous incidents and 6 per cent of victims had been reported as a victim on 11 or more previous occasions. This is a rather different pattern from that reported last year due to improvements in Strathclyde's recording of the number of previous incidents; previously Strathclyde recorded only a small number of cases with a single previous incident.
3.5 Incidents of domestic abuse by age of victim and perpetrator
- The most frequent age group for victims is 31-35, whereas it is 41-50 for perpetrators.
- When looking at the incidence per 100,000 population, females are at most risk of being victims of domestic abuse when aged between 26 and 30 and males when aged between 31 and 35.
- The age of a victim of an incident of domestic abuse is likely to be very similar to the age group of the perpetrator; tending to be either in the same age group as the perpetrator or in the age group immediately below.
3.6 Incidents of domestic abuse by relationship between victim and perpetrator
- Half of the incidents of domestic abuse recorded by the police involved co-habitees or spouses. These cases are similarly divided between those where the partners were married and those where they were not.
- In 31 per cent of cases, the victim and perpetrator were ex-partners or ex-spouses. In 19 per cent of cases, the victim and perpetrator were in an on-going relationship but were not cohabiting. This pattern is very similar to that shown in previous years.
3.7 Location of incidents of domestic abuse
- The overwhelming majority of incidents of domestic abuse took place in the home (92 per cent of all incidents where the location was recorded). This was more likely if the victim and perpetrator cohabited i.e. were a `spouse' or `co-habitee' (96 per cent of all incidents where location was recorded).
- In all other relationships, excluding those who were a 'spouse' or 'co-habitee', the proportion of incidents taking place in a home dropped to around 90 per cent or less (of all incidents where location was recorded). This is a very similar pattern to that observed in previous years.
- Incidents of domestic abuse generally took place within the victim's home (including the joint home when the victim and perpetrator cohabited), regardless of the relationship between victim and perpetrator.
3.8 Crimes and offences of domestic abuse, action taken by police
In 66 per cent of crimes or offences recorded in Scotland following an incident of domestic abuse where the resulting police action was recorded, the case was referred to the procurator fiscal with a view to charges being brought against the offender, this is similar to the 64 per cent recorded in 2001.
- In 2002, in 6 per cent of cases a police warning was given; 16 per cent of cases involved some other type of action and in 11 per cent of cases no further action was taken.
- The proportion of crimes and offences of domestic abuse referred to the procurator fiscal varied considerably. In Dumfries and Galloway and Grampian the proportion was 16 per cent and 19 per cent respectively, whilst the proportions in Central, Fife, Northern and Tayside were 95 per cent or above. This variation, however, reflects the differences in police practice in recording a crime or offence following an incident of domestic abuse (see Note 5.2.5.).
- There was less variation between forces in the proportion of all incidents of domestic abuse which resulted in referral to the procurator fiscal.
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