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Social Focus on Women and Men 2002

chapter seven: Crime and Justice

Crime and justice are issues which are never far from the public eye and political debate. Crime and the fear of crime can have debilitating effects on people's lives. There are regular calls for more police on the beat and increased penalties, particularly for certain kinds of crimes. Sex offending in particular has become an issue of great public concern in recent years as its nature and true extent has become better understood.

The Scottish Strategy for Victims, launched in January 2001, set itself the central aim of ensuring that victims are put at the heart of the criminal justice system in Scotland through the provision of practical and emotional support, access to better information and greater participation in the criminal justice process for the victims of crime. Stalking and harassment, which can ruin the victim's life, has already been the subject of legislation.

During the 1990s drug-related crime became a major issue for the criminal justice system. Research confirms that the majority of those arrested by the police are drug users. It has also been established that many offenders become involved in crime, especially in acquisitive crime, to fund their addiction.

There are concerns that the police and the criminal justice system do not treat all groups in society equally and that women and ethnic minorities are under-represented in the criminal justice agencies. However, research made available in December 2001 to the Stephen Lawrence Steering Group (set up by the Scottish Executive to implement recommendations in the Macpherson report into the Lawrence murder that apply to Scotland) showed no evidence that young people from minority ethnic groups were being specifically targeted for stop-and-search by Scottish police. Evidence was found that both minority ethnic and white young people appeared alienated from the police, and that some officers might be avoiding contact with minority ethnic communities for fear of being labelled "racist".

Crime and Victimisation

Generally, the statistics on crime recorded by the police which are published regularly do not include information on the victim(s) or perpetrator(s). Information on individuals experiences of some crimes is collected in the Scottish Crime Survey (SCS), a large-scale household survey, based on a core sample of around 5 thousand interviews with adults (aged 16 and over) throughout Scotland. Surveys were undertaken most recently in 1996 and 2000. Data for 2000 shows that around one in five respondents have been the victim of a household crime in the previous year; 5 per cent have been the victim of a personal crime and 3 per cent have been the victim of a violent crime. Men are more likely than women to be a victim of crime. The incidence rate for violent crime is higher for men than women, particularly in the 16-24 age group (Table 7.1).

Table 7.1: Prevalence of victimisation by gender (1999)
Percentage of respondents

Source: Scottish Executive 2002 Scottish Crime Survey (weighted data, all Scotland), n =5,059
Notes: Household crime includes vandalism, theft from a motor vehicle, housebreaking, theft of a motor vehicle, bicycle theft and other household theft.
Personal crime includes assault, robbery, theft from the person and other personal theft.

Public Anxiety About Crime

The SCS also collects information on people's perceptions of crime. Anxiety about crime was assessed by asking respondents whether they worried about themselves or others in their household becoming a victim of crime, and how much they worried about specific crimes. Perceptions of the prevalence of crime are likely to influence the responses, but the issues of risk and impact are also involved.

Risk can reflect a combination of the respondent's perceptions of the prevalence of crime and their personal circumstances and lifestyle. For example, someone who never goes out may feel at low risk of being assaulted and someone who lives in a house with few security measures may feel at high risk of housebreaking.

A further influence on response is the impact of the crime on the respondent. Sexual assault is a rare event, but people who judge themselves to have a low risk of being sexually assaulted may still be very worried about becoming a victim because of the nature of the crime. Conversely, someone who feels there is a high risk that their car may be stolen may be less worried, because they have insurance and the consequences of the theft may be minimal.

A question which is frequently used to gauge fear of crime is how safe people feel walking alone in their area after dark. However, in a more qualitative study, Shapland and Vagg (1988) found that, for some, this risk may not relate to crime. For example, fear of the dark itself can cause some people, especially women, to feel unsafe.

Despite these reservations, the answers to such questions provide some insight into the nature and prevalence of public anxiety about crime.

In 2000, 48 per cent of the SCS sample said they are worried about the possibility that they, or anyone they lived with, might become a victim of crime. This is a similar proportion to 1996 (50 per cent). In 2000, women are more likely than men to be worried about becoming a victim of crime (51 per cent of women compared to 44 per cent of men). There was no difference between men and women overall in 1996 (Table 7.2).

Table 7.2: Percentage of respondents worried that they or someone living with them would become a victim of crime, 1996 and 2000
Percentage

Source: Scottish Executive 1998 SCS (weighted data, all Scotland), Main B questionnaire, n = 2,511. Scottish Executive 2002 SCS (weighted data, all Scotland), Main B questionnaire, n=2542
Note: Non-responses were excluded from the analysis.

Data for 2000 shows those aged 25-44 are more worried about crime than younger or older people. Three fifths of women in the 25-44 age group are worried about crime in 2000, as are more than half of men in that age group. Younger women (aged between 16 and 24) are more worried about crime than young men - half of women compared to a third of men in that age group in 2000. There is no difference between men and women aged 65 and over, where just over a third are worried about crime.

Since 1996, there has been a significant decrease in the percentage of men aged 16-24 worried about crime, with the 2000 figure similar to that recorded in 1993. The figures for women show less change between 1996 and 2000.

As might be expected, those living alone are less likely to worry about themselves or others being a victim (36 per cent) than those living in households of two or more people (50 per cent).

The SCS also asks people how worried they are about certain types of crime. Table 7.3 shows the percentage who feel 'very' or 'fairly' worried. Generally, people are more worried about theft of or damage to their property than they are about attacks on themselves. However, in 2000, two in five women are worried about being sexually assaulted and around a third of both men and women are worried about being robbed or assaulted.

Table 7.3: Percentage of respondents 'very' or 'fairly' worried about a range of crimes
Percentage

Source: Scottish Executive 1996 SCS (all Scotland, weighted data), Main questionnaire, n = 5,045;
2000 SCS (weighted data, all Scotland), Main questionnaire, n = 5,059.
Notes: Non-responses and 'Not applicable' were excluded from the analysis.
Vehicle vandalism, theft from a car, theft of a car and racial attack were added to this question in the 2000 survey
'Sexual assault' based on women only as this was asked only of women in the SCS 1996.

For all crimes where information was collected in both 1996 and 2000 (housebreaking, vandalism, sexual assault (women only) robbery and assault), people are less worried in 2000. This is despite the fact that crime rates for robbery, assault and housebreaking have not dropped since 1995 (although there has been a reduction in vandalism).

The proportion of women who are worried about sexual assault fell for all age groups between 1996 and 2000, with the greatest decrease for those aged 16-24 (76 per cent in 1996; 52 per cent in 2000). One in ten men said they are worried about sexual assault, this figure being highest among men aged 16-24 (14 per cent).

Feelings of safety when walking alone after dark show marked differences by age and gender. In 2000, 40 per cent of women feel 'a bit' or 'very' unsafe in this situation, compared to 14 per cent of men. People aged 65 or over (particularly women) are more likely to feel unsafe than those in younger age groups (Chart 7.4).

Chart 7.4: Percentage of respondents feeling 'very' or 'a bit' unsafe when walking alone after dark, 2000
Percentage

Overall, people are less concerned about walking alone in their area after dark in 2000 than in 1996, when 47 per cent of women and 20 per cent of men felt 'very' or 'a bit' unsafe. All age groups also feel safer walking alone after dark than in 1996, apart from women aged 16-24, for whom there has been little change.

Feelings of safety when alone in one's own home at night also vary according to gender. In 2000, 10 per cent of women reported feeling 'very' or 'a bit' unsafe in this situation, compared with 2 per cent of men. These levels represent a slight reduction in levels of concern since 1996, when 11 per cent of women and 4 per cent of men reported feeling unsafe.

Homicide

Detailed information on the victims, the person(s) accused of the crime (for solved cases) and its circumstances is available for homicides. In Scotland, the number of homicides is generally small, with an average of 113 victims a year over the period 1991 to 2000. The 2000 figure of 107 victims is equivalent to a rate of 21 victims per million population. Men are considerably more likely than women to be the victim of a homicide - over the 1991 to 2000 period, more than three quarters of homicide victims were male and three in ten were men aged 16 to 29.

The relationship between the victim of the homicide and the person accused of killing them is available for solved cases only.
Almost three-fifths of the male victims in solved cases for the 1991-2000 period were killed by an acquaintance and a further one fifth by a stranger. By contrast, two fifths of female victims were killed by their partner (Chart 7.5).

Chart 7.5: Victims of homicide (1), by gender of victim and relationship of main accused to victim, 1991-2000 combined
Numbers

Domestic Abuse

The first domestic violence advertisements appeared in 1994. They were aimed at the perpetrators of domestic violence, with the message that it was wrong and illegal. However, later research reveals that even those who are sent to prison because of such an incident do not recognise themselves as abusers. Also the label "domestic violence" was assessed as being a very narrow definition, which failed to encompass mental, emotional and financial abuse. The term 'domestic abuse' is now used instead.

Research in 1998 suggested that domestic abuse is generally perceived as a predominantly drink-related, working class problem. However, the 2000 Scottish Crime Survey estimates that one in five women across all age and social groups could expect to experience domestic abuse within her lifetime. In November 2000, the Scottish Executive announced a national strategy to eliminate domestic abuse in Scotland

From 1 April 1999 onwards, Scottish Police Forces have recorded information on incidents of domestic abuse. However, these statistics do not reveal the incidence of all domestic abuse committed, as not all incidents are reported to the police, for a number of reasons. For example, victims of domestic abuse commonly experience fear and shame, and may wish to hide their experiences from others, or the perpetrator of the abuse may physically prevent the victim from reporting it. An incident may include more than one crime or offence. In the statistics for 2002 presented here, 'domestic abuse' is, in all cases, between partners (married, co-habiting or otherwise) or ex-partners.

In 2000, the police recorded just over 36,400 incidents of domestic abuse. Over 90 per cent of the victims are female and over 90 per cent of the perpetrators are male (in a small number of incidents, the sex of the victim or perpetrator was not known).

Women aged 26-30 are most likely to the victim of domestic abuse, with a rate of 3,200 incidents per 100,000 population recorded in 2000, followed by women aged 22-25 (3,000 incidents per 100,000 population) and women aged 31-35 and 19-21 (2,900 incidents per 100,000 population) (Chart 7.6).

Chart 7.6: Incidents of domestic abuse recorded by the police, by age and gender of victims, Scotland, 2000
Rate per 100,000 population

Men aged 31-35 are most likely to be the perpetrators of domestice abuse, with over 3,000 incidents per 100,000 recored in 2000. The rate for men aged 26-30 is only slightly lower, while that for men aged 36-40 is just over 2,800 recorded incidents per 100,000 population (Chart 7.7).

Chart 7.7: Incidents of domestic abuse recorded by the police, by age and gender of perpetrators, Scotland, 2000
Rate per 100,000 population

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