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RECORDED CRIME IN SCOTLAND, 2000

9. Additional information: Scottish Crime Survey

9.1. The preceding sections of this bulletin described in detail the volume and types of crime recorded and cleared up by the eight police forces in Scotland during 2000. The recorded crime series is a useful indicator of trends in recorded crime. However, not all crimes are reported to the police and, of those crimes that are, not all are subsequently recorded (if the police are of the opinion that a crime has not taken place). The propensity of the public to report crime to the police also changes over time. Thus, statistics recorded by the police may not accurately reflect the underlying trend in all crime.

9.2. Crime surveys can be a useful source of information by providing a fuller picture of the extent of and trends in most types of household and personal victimisation. The information provided by such surveys complements the information compiled by the police forces and provides another useful indicator as well as exploring other issues such as the impact of crime on victims, public anxieties and reactions to crime and attitudes towards the police.

9.3. The Scottish Crime Survey (SCS) is a large scale household survey of public experiences and perceptions of crime, based on interviews with over 5,000 adults across Scotland. The SCS is conducted approximately every four years, with the last sweep having been completed in 2000.

9.4. The 2000 SCS was the fifth in a series of national surveys carried out in Scotland. A summary of some of the main findings from the first results of the 2000 SCS are detailed below. Like the recorded crime series, the SCS cannot provide a complete picture of crime in Scotland. The SCS does not, for example, collect information about crimes committed against public or corporate bodies and individuals not resident in households. Information on those aged under 16 is limited to the age range 12 to 15 and is not as comprehensive as the information for those aged 16 or over. Furthermore, the SCS is dependent on the willingness of respondents to take part in the survey and to remember incidents and report them accurately. Finally, the SCS results, like those from any sample survey, are also subject to sampling error.

9.5 Findings from the 2000 SCS are summarised in bullet form below. Further details can be found in Crime and Criminal Justice Research Findings No. 51"The 2000 Scottish Crime Survey: First Results".

• Estimates derived from the 2000 SCS suggest that in 1999 just over 840,000 crimes were committed against individuals and private households in Scotland. This was 13 per cent less than the number of crimes in 1995 estimated from the 1996 SCS.
• Over 60% of crimes experienced in 1999 were against property and of these about half involved motor vehicles. Vehicle related crime (vandalism, thefts and attempted thefts of and from cars) fell by 30% from approximately 337,600 crimes in 1995 to approximately 237,600 in 1999.
• Only certain categories of crime are directly comparable between the SCS figures and the police statistics. For the sub-set of comparable crimes which can be compared with the police recorded crime statistics, namely vandalism, housebreaking, theft of a motor vehicle, theft of a bicycle, robbery and assault, an estimated 33 per cent of SCS crimes ended up in the statistics of crimes recorded by the police in 1999. This was slightly below the proportion in 1995 (37%).
• Between 1995 and 1999 there was a very significant drop in relatively minor crimes of dishonesty. The crime categories of "theft from a motor vehicle" and "other household theft" fell to 56% of the 1995 level. This implies a decline of around 15% per year.
• Survey estimates suggest that the number of violent crimes (assault and robbery) increased by 33 per cent between 1995 and 1999, although this increase was not statistically significant. Part of the increase was attributable to the addition of a new "screener question" on domestic violence in the 2000 survey which increased the estimates of violent crime by approximately 10%.

Further information

• Crime and Criminal Justice Research Findings No. 51 "The 2000 Scottish Crime Survey: First Results" is available on the Internet: www.scotland.gov.uk
• For more information about the Scottish Crime Survey, please contact Joe Curran Tel: 0131 244 8275 or e- mail: joe.curran@scotland.gov.uk

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