The Holyrood authorities have hailed an official survey that’s found crime in Scotland has fallen by around a third in just under a decade … although they’re not counting cyber crime yet.
The Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS) 2016-17, based on interviews with almost 5,600 adults about their experience of crime, whether or not reported to police, estimates there were around 712,000 crimes – 32pc fewer than in 2008-09 – while property crime is down 34pc and violence down 27pc over the same period. The authorities say that new questions on cyber-crime will be added to the 2018/19 SCJS. Nor does the survey count crimes of fraud, although it does examine people’s perceptions of fraud and their experiences of certain types of fraud. As in recent years, respondents in 2016/17 were most likely to report being worried about acts of fraud rather than other types of crime. Five per cent of adults reported that they had their credit or bank cards/card details used fraudulently, while 1pc reported that their identity had been stolen, in the 12 months before the survey; unchanged from 2014/15 and 2008/09. The survey also asked about crimes that respondents thought they were likely to experience in the next year. In 2016/17, of the crimes asked about, respondents thought that someone using their credit card/bank details was the crime most likely to happen to them in the next year (28pc), an increase on past surveys.
As for verbal or physical abuse at work, just over a third of adults (34pc) experiencing verbal abuse from the general public at work said they experienced at least one verbal abuse incident per week (unchanged from 2008/09). And some 36pc of adults who had experienced verbal abuse said they did not report the latest incident to their employer. The most common reason for not reporting verbal abuse to their employer was “it’s not worth the bother” (27pc), and “incidents such as these are just part of the job” (58pc).
About one in seven, 14pc of adults said they had been offered any of these fake or smuggled goods: cigarettes/tobacco, alcohol, DVDs/video games, jewellery, clothes, accessories, electrical goods, children’s toys, medicine or something else. The most common fake or smuggled goods offered to adults in Scotland were cigarettes or tobacco.
Justice Secretary Michael Matheson said: “Scotland’s firm focus on prevention, responsive policing and local partnerships to help individuals and communities keep themselves safe has had a positive impact on long-term crime trends and people’s feeling of safety, with recorded crime at a 43-year low.
“While this progress is cause for encouragement, it will never be an excuse for complacency. As well as continued government investment in policing and funding partners such as Neighbourhood Watch Scotland, Crimestoppers and the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit, I have commissioned further research into those areas where violence persists.
“A better understanding of the nature and circumstances of violence can help improve how not only the justice system, but wider public services pre-empt and respond to the issue. We must keep identifying those areas where we can most effectively focus our collective efforts to achieve the greatest impact, ensuring all our communities benefit from falling crime.”
The likelihood of being a victim of any crime was higher among younger adults (aged 16-24), those living in the most deprived areas and adults living in urban areas.
For the Scottish Crime & Justice Survey 2016/17 in full visit http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2018/03/9068/downloads.
