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8. Notes on statistics used in this bulletin
Returns
8.1 The statistical return from which most of the figures in this bulletin are taken is a simple count of the numbers of crimes and offences recorded and cleared up by the police. Only returns from the eight Scottish home forces are included in this bulletin. One return is made for each council in Scotland and these are aggregated to give a national total. Amendments (such as the deletion of incidents found on investigation not to be criminal) which arise after the end of the financial year are not generally incorporated.
8.2 In 1993 information was collected for the first time from other police forces, such as the British Transport Police. This practice has been continued, but these figures have not been included in the main body of the bulletin. Thus, in addition to those crimes and offences referred to throughout the bulletin there were, in total, 2,346 crimes and 5,199 offences recorded by the British Transport Police, Ministry of Defence and Civil Nuclear Constabulary (previously known as the UK Atomic Energy Authority) in 2006/07. The crime clear-up rate was 29 per cent and the offences clear-up rate was 45 per cent.
8.3 The figures included in the motor vehicle offences group do not include stationary motor vehicle offences dealt with by the issue of a fixed penalty ticket (some 105,305 offences, mostly parking and waiting offences, or failure to display a valid excise licence, in 2005/06). However, offences dealt with under the vehicle defect rectification scheme and offences for which the procurator fiscal offers a fixed penalty are included in the figures. In addition to this, moving traffic offences which are the subject of a police conditional offer of a fixed penalty are also included, e.g. speeding, traffic directions offences.
Recording issues
8.4 In one criminal incident, several crimes or offences may occur - e.g. a house may be broken into and vandalised and the occupants assaulted. In multiple offence incidents, all the offences are counted rather than one for the incident as a whole; that is, the counting system is offence based rather than incident based. An offence may have more than one victim - for example in robberies - and be committed by more than one offender - e.g. some assaults and housebreakings (note that for murder, attempted murder and culpable homicide, the number of crimes recorded is equal to the number of the victims). Thus the statistics in this bulletin are not directly comparable with statistics on action taken against offenders, as one offence may lead to several persons being charged. Equally, an offender may be charged with several offences. The statistics for recorded number of crimes given in this bulletin are also not directly comparable with statistics collected in England and Wales for the recorded number of notifiable offences. This is mainly due to differences in the counting rules; for notifiable offences the counting system is, wherever possible victim based rather than offence based. The Home Office introduced new counting rules for notifiable offences, and expanded their coverage on 1 April 1998.
8.5 In Scotland, assault is a common law offence. In order to distinguish between serious and minor assaults police forces use a common definition of what is a serious assault.
"An assault or attack in which the victim sustains injury resulting in detention in hospital as an inpatient, for the treatment of that injury, or any of the following injuries whether or not detained in hospital;
- Fractures (the breaking or cracking of a bone. Note - nose is cartilage not bone, so a 'broken nose' should not be classified unless it meets one of the other criteria)
- Internal injuries
- Severe concussion
- Loss of consciousness
- Lacerations requiring sutures which may lead to impairment or disfigurement
- Any other injury which may lead to impairment or disfigurement."
8.6 Attempts to commit an offence are included in the statistics, in general in the same group as the substantive offence.
Reporting practices
8.7 These statistics do not of course reveal the incidence of all crime committed. Not all incidents are reported to the police. The Scottish Crime Survey, a survey of crime victims, suggested that in Scotland victims reported 49 per cent of incidents to the police in 2002, compared with 58 per cent in 1999, 50 per cent in 1995 and 53 per cent in 1981. The two reasons most commonly given by victims for not reporting to the police were that the incident was considered by them to be too trivial or that the police could not have taken any action in any case.
8.8 Many offences, for example, speeding or possession of drugs, have no victim other than perhaps the perpetrator and are discovered and recorded as a result of police activity rather than by being reported to the police by the public. Hence the strength and deployment of the police forces mainly determine the numbers of such offences recorded.
Crimes and offences cleared up
8.9 The definition of "cleared up" is noted below. This definition came into force with effect from 1 April 1996.
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 crime or offence 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. In some cases there is sufficient evidence but a prosecution cannot be brought, for example, because the accused has left the country. In such cases, the offender is said to have been traced and the crime is regarded as cleared up. The other terms in the definition describe the various actions that must be taken by the police against offenders.
8.10 Certain motor vehicle offences are not always recorded in cases where police forces are unable to clear-up the offence ( e.g. speeding offences where the driver is untraceable). Clear-up rates for motor vehicle offences in these circumstances are artificial. Thus, clear-up rates for the motor vehicle group are not included in the bulletin.
8.11 Clear-up rates in excess of 100 per cent can arise where offences recorded in one year are cleared up during the following year.
Classification
8.12 Contraventions of Scottish criminal law are divided for statistical purposes into crimes and offences. "Crime" is generally used for the more serious criminal acts; the less serious termed "offences", although the term "offence" may also be used in relation to serious breaches of criminal law. The distinction is made only for working purposes and the "seriousness" of the offence is generally related to the maximum sentence that can be imposed.
8.13 The detailed classification of crimes and offences used by The Scottish Government to collect criminal statistics contains about 360 codes. These are grouped in the bulletin as shown on pages 32 and 33.
8.14 Clearly, only a limited selection of tables can be included in any statistical bulletin. Further analysis of recorded crime statistics can be supplied on request once the bulletin is published. This includes available information relating to time periods other than those covered in the bulletin. In certain cases a fee is charged. For details of what can be provided please telephone Andrew Murray on 0131 244 8322 or e-mail: andrew.murray@scotland.gsi.gov.uk.
Scottish Crime and Victimisation Survey
8.15 Findings from the 2006 Scottish Crime and Victimisation Survey, which asks about crimes and offences experienced in 2005/06, were published in September 2007. These summary findings, as well as details of findings from previous crime surveys, are available on the publications section of the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey website at:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Research/by-topic/crime-and-justice/crime-and-justice-survey/publications.
For more information about the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey, please contact Barry Stalker: telephone 0131 244 6934 or e-mail barry.stalker@scotland.gsi.gov.uk.
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