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Measurement of the Extent of Youth Crime in Scotland

Footnotes

1. T. Sellin quoted in J. Biderman and A. Reis, On explaining the dark figure of crime. Annals of the American Academy of Politics and Social Science. Vol.374. P.1-15. 1967.
2. The observation that talking to people about crime tends to 'produce' anxieties that would not otherwise be expressed is of more than purely methodological significance. It has also has implications for campaigns that attempt to address fear of crime. Put simply, there is a danger that attempts to reassure have the opposite effect and, by drawing attention to issues related to crime, actually increase public anxiety. Evidence for this effect comes from a number of crime prevention evaluations, most recently in the context of the reintroduction of 'beat policing' in a suburban community in England (see "Community policing experiment failed to reduce residents' fear of crime, Joseph Rowntree Foundation Press Release, 9/10/2003.
3. The 2000 Scottish Crime Survey: overview report." Scottish Executive Central Research Unit. 2002.
4. MORI Scotland, Glasgow Youth Survey 2003."
5. A summary of crime/ anti-social behaviour types admitted to by young people is shown in Figure 5.1 together with the proportion of young people who claim to have been caught for the act.
6. YouthLink Scotland, "State of the Nation Study." 2003.
7. MVA, "Young people and crime in Scotland: findings from the 2000 Scottish Crime Survey." Scottish Executive Central Research Unit. 2002.
8. John Burrows et al, "Counting the cost: crime against business in Scotland." Scottish Executive. 2000.
9. Sue Brand and Richard Price, "The economic and social costs of crime." Home Office Research Study 217. Home Office Research, Development and Statistics Directorate. 2000.
10. Claire Flood-Page et al, "Youth crime: findings from the 1998/99 Youth Lifestyles Survey." Home Office Research Study 209. Home Office Research, Development and Statistics Directorate. 2000.
11. Youth Justice Board, "Youth Survey 2003." 2003.
12. Simon Anderson et al, "Cautionary tales: young people, crime and policing in Edinburgh." Avebury, Hants. 1994.
13. D. P. Farrington, "Measuring, explaining and preventing shoplifting." Security Journal. 12(1). P.9-27. 1999.
14. Simon Anderson, "A study of crime in rural Scotland." The Scottish Office Central Research Unit. 1997.
15. Tracey Budd and Lorraine Sims, "Anti-social behaviour and disorder: findings from the 2000 British Crime Survey." Home Office Research Findings 145. 2001.
16. "Baseline study of housing management." The Scottish Office. 1995.
17. Suzie Scott and Hilary Parkey, "Myths and reality: anti-social behaviour in Scotland." Housing Studies. Vol.13. No.3. P.325-345. 1998.
18. MVA, "The 2000 Scottish Crime Survey: First Results." Crime and Criminal Justice Research Findings No.51. Scottish Executive Central Research Unit. 2000.
19. NERA, "The economic cost of fraud: a report for the Home Office and the Serious Fraud Office." NERA, London. 2000.
20. 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 age of the accused, death of the accused or other similar circumstances.
21. Rutter et al, "Anti-social behaviour by young people." Cambridge University Press. 1998.
22. Rutter et al, op. cit.
23. Home Office, " Aspects of crime - gender." Home Office Research and Statistics Directorate, London. 1997.
24. Home Office, Criminal Statistics England and Wales 2001." Research, Development and Statistics Directorate, London. 2002.
25. Policy Action Team 8: Anti- Social Behaviour
26. A Report on the Consultation Responses to Putting Our Communities First: A Strategy for Tackling Anti-social Behaviour, Scottish Executive Development Department, 2003.
27. Crime and Disorder Act 1998
28. Myths and Reality: Anti-Social Behaviour in Scotland, Scott & Parkey, Housing Studies, Vol 13, No3, pp325 - 345.
29. Putting Our Communities First: A Strategy for Tackling Anti-Social Behaviour, Scottish Executive, 2003.
30. James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling, "Broken windows: the police and neighbourhood safety." Atlantic Monthly. 29, 3. P.29-38. 1982.
31. The emphasis is generally on 'getting caught' , rather than whether the incident led to a charge by the police
32. Counting the Cost: Crime Against Business in Scotland, Scottish Executive CRU, 2000.
33. Vandalism and Fire in Schools Cost Councils Over £8 million Last Year, Audit Scotland, Press Release, 25 June 2002.
34. See Attitudes to Discrimination in Scotland, Scottish Executive Research Findings No.7/2003 for further research evidence on the issues of racial discrimination and homophobia.
35. Analysis of Public Attitudes to Insecurity, Fear of Crime and Crime Prevention: Eurobarometer 58.0, European Commission, DG Press B/1/UTM D(2003), 25 April, 2003. The survey was carried out in Autumn 2002 and questioned 16,100 people, of which 1,300 were resident in the UK.
36. The 2003 survey results had been gathered but could not be made available by the Scottish Executive at the time of writing the report (October 2003). However, we understand that in future years, the scale of the survey will be greatly increased from 5,000 face-to-face to 30,000 telephone interviews to allow results to be analysed at the local authority level. The survey will also move to an annual basis and for 2004 at least, the questions will remain similar to the 2000 and 2003 sweeps.
37. Again the Scottish Crime Survey also asks similar questions on feelings of safety after dark. The main results are summarised in Table A.4 in the Appendix. As the Household Survey is based on a much large sample (14,000 responses compared to 5,000 in the Crime Survey) in has been analysed in more depth in this section.
38. In Scotland, which has a relatively low representation of ethnic minorities, much of this concern is likely to be focused on sectarian assaults.

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