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CRIMINAL JUSTICE & TACKLING CRIME

The indicators in this section look at how forces contribute to the effective and efficient operation of the criminal justice system. Most relate to their effectiveness in detecting crimes. This aside, the majority of High Level Objectives require effective joint working between the police, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service ( COPFS), and the Scottish Court Service ( SCS).

High Level Objectives:

• Improved detection rates for crime, particularly priority crimes
• Support delivery of an efficient, effective and accessible criminal justice system²⁰
• Increased levels of public confidence in the criminal justice system
• Faster end-to-end criminal justice processes
• Effective co-operation between Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency ( SCDEA) and forces
• Reduced re-offending
• Effective use of intelligence
• Improved working relationships with the Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service ( COPFS) and Scottish Court Service ( SCS)
• More effective use of non-court resolutions

Performance Measures 2007-08

• Outcomes:
  • Detection rate for recorded crimes and offences
  • Number and proportion of racially aggravated crimes detected
• Activities:
  • Number and proportion of reports submitted to procurator fiscal within 28 calendar days
  • Number and proportion or reports submitted to Children's Reporter within 14 calendar days
• Inputs:
  • None at present
• Context:
  • Number of individuals brought into custody

Performance summary

Multigraph 3 below shows forces' aggregated performance for this pillar, comparing 2007-08 figures against those for 2006-07. Again, an increase in the percentage recorded denotes positive performance and is illustrated by points falling outside the fixed circle (in blue). In six out of the ten indicators, Scottish performance shows improvement on the previous year. The biggest gains can be seen for the measures of time taken to submit police reports to the procurator fiscal and the Scottish Children's Reporter Administration ( SCRA). While successful detection of group 1 crimes of violence has also seen a rise, falls are apparent for groups 2 (crimes of indecency) and 4 (vandalism, fire-raising and malicious conduct).

Multigraph 3: Criminal justice & tackling crime performance measures - Scotland

( NB: While most forces have been able to provide data on each of the indicators for the first full year (2007-08) of the Framework, not all could supply equivalent data for 2006-07. This has affected the presentation of statistics as follows:

• where the tables show data for 2007-08 only, all forces that supplied 2007-08 data have been included in the Scotland totals; however,
• because the multigraphs compare performance over the two years, only forces that were able to provide data for both years have been included in the Scotland totals.

As a result, there may be differences between the Scotland totals appearing in the tables and those in the multigraphs.)

Please note that any historical data mentioned without reference in this section has been taken from The Scottish Government's Recorded Crime in Scotland 2007/08 Statistical Bulletin²¹.

OUTCOMES

Detection rate for recorded crime and offences

A crime is regarded as 'detected' where sufficient evidence exists under Scots law to justify that criminal proceedings be considered by the procurator fiscal. Where a report is not submitted to the procurator fiscal, an incident can still be considered detected if:

1. by standing agreement with the procurator fiscal and due to the minor nature of the offence the police warn the accused, e.g. by issuing a fixed penalty notice for anti-social behaviour or a minor traffic violation; or

2. reporting is inappropriate due to the accused being under the age of criminal liability (in Scotland no child under the age of eight years can be guilty of an offence), the death of the accused, or similar circumstances.

Consequently, not every detection means that someone has been arrested. In addition, forces are required to record detections at the time at which they occur. For example if an assault takes place in May 2007 it will be recorded as occurring that month. If it is then solved in December 2007, then the detection is recorded for December rather than May. This is why forces can sometimes show detection rates of over 100%.

In each of the following seven tables, we are looking for increases in detection rates as a sign of positive performance.

Table 26

Commentary

The national detection rate for 2007-08 is 61.5%, an increase of just over one percentage point against the previous year. This is the highest detection rate recorded in at least the last ten years.

Group 2 - Crimes of Indecency

Table 27

Commentary

The overall detection rate for 2007-08 in this group is 71.2%, a decrease of approximately two
percentage points against the previous year. While this rate remains higher than that for group 1 crimes above, the overall trend is one of a fairly steady decline in detections since a high of 80% in 2001-02. The variation in detection rate is particularly marked in this group, with one force showing a significantly higher rate than other forces. This is an example of the sort of variance that we would expect to be explored by forces and either explained or addressed.

Group 3 - Crimes of Dishonesty

Table 28

Commentary

At 37.7%, the national detection rate for crimes of dishonesty shows a very slight increase of just 0.2 percentage points on the previous year. Over the past ten years these rates have fluctuated from a low of 35% to a high of 39% in 2003-04.

Annual report on Scottish Policing Performance Framework ( SPPF) 2007-2008

Group 4 - Fire-raising, Malicious and Reckless Conduct

Table 29

Commentary

The national detection rate for this group in 2007-08 is 24.6%, down just 0.4 percentage points on the previous year. It commonly has the lowest rates of detection of the seven groups. Often these crimes can be difficult to detect, e.g. in the case of graffiti and other acts of vandalism, witnesses or other forms of evidence may not be easily identified. Nonetheless, they can have a considerable detrimental effect on people's quality of life.

Group 5 - Other Crimes

Table 30

Commentary

The national detection rate for other crimes in 2007-08 is 98.4%, a fall of 0.4 percentage points on the previous year. As we have explained elsewhere, detection rates for this group are characteristically high because of the way in which these crimes come to be identified.

Group 6 - Offences (Miscellaneous)

Table 31

Commentary

Here too there has been very little change in the overall detection rate in the past two years. At 84.3%, there has been only a slight increase, of 0.3 percentage points, since 2006-07. Nevertheless, this represents a fall of six percentage points on the 90% previously recorded in 2003-04.

Group 7 - Offences (Road Traffic)

Table 32

Commentary

The national detection rate for 2007-08 is 99.0%, again an increase of just 0.4 percentage points on the previous year. As with group 5, rates are consistently high here due to the way in which these crimes are detected.

Number and proportion of racially aggravated crimes detected

This indicator does not include all racist crimes but focuses on two specific types of offence - racially aggravated conduct and racially aggravated harassment and is a statutory indicator by the Accounts Commission (see public reassurance and community safety for more on this).

Table 33

Commentary

Despite some quite large individual force fluctuations here, the magnitude of change over the two years for Scotland as a whole is very small, at less than one (0.6) percentage point. Nevertheless, past data shows that this continues a very slight but downward trend.

ACTIVITIES

Reports submitted to the procurator fiscal within 28 calendar days

Procurators fiscal consider police reports when deciding whether or not to pursue criminal proceedings. A standard has been agreed by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service ( COPFS) and the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland ( ACPOS) that requires forces to submit no fewer than 80% of these reports to the procurator fiscal within 28 calendar days.

Table 34

Commentary

The proportion of reports submitted within the 28 calendar day timescale has risen by over ten percentage points, to stand at 85.1% in 2007-08. This is keeping with the rapid increase since 2004 for this Accounts Commission statutory indicator. As a result of this marked improvement, the police service nationally is now achieving this target.

Reports submitted to Children's Reporter within 14 calendar days

The purpose of this measure is to provide an indication of how forces are contributing to the efficiency and effectiveness of the Scottish Children's Reporter Administration ( SCRA). A national target has been agreed that requires forces to submit 80% of police reports to the SCRA within 14 calendar days.

Table 35

Commentary

Like the previous measure this is also a statutory Accounts Commission indicator. Here too, the proportion of reports submitted has continued to rise since 2004. In 2007-08 this proportion sits at 86.8%, comfortably above the agreed national target.

INPUTS

The SPPF currently has no input measures in this section.

CONTEXT²²

Number of individuals brought into custody

This context measure reports on the number of individuals who have been arrested or detained and processed at police stations.

Table 36

Commentary

Nationally there has been a small decrease in the number of individuals brought into police custody - down 2.1% on the previous year.

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