SCOTLAND: Minor attacks fuel huge rise in levels of violent crime

Minor attacks fuel huge rise in levels of violent crime

VIOLENT crime in Scotland has increased by more than a third in two years, figures revealed yesterday.

Minor assaults accounted for the bulk of the increase - unlike in England and Wales where the level of violent crime has remained constant.

The trend was disclosed in the Scottish Crime and Victimisation Survey, which polls 5,000 people every three years to gauge the extent of crime experienced by the public rather than that recorded by police.

Based on these interviews, the survey found the number of crimes committed from April 2005 to March 2006 was 13 per cent higher than in the previous survey, due to the increase in minor assaults which went up by 35 per cent from 2003-04.

This equated to 655 minor assaults per 100,000 adults in 2005-06.
But housebreaking and theft from cars had fallen.
Most people interviewed reported house-breaking to the police but almost two in three failed to report minor assaults, backing up warnings from police in The Scotsman earlier this week that much violent crime goes unreported.
Detective Chief Superintendent John Carnochan, head of the Violence Reduction Unit, said a huge volume of violent crime remained hidden from view, making statistics "meaningless". He urged people to "take responsibility" in tackling high crime rates.
Some 45 per cent of respondents who were attacked said the perpetrator was under the influence of alcohol, although
for minor assaults more than two-thirds of attackers were believed to be drunk.

David McKenna, chief executive of Victim Support Scotland, said he was "disappointed and worried" by the figures.
He called for more support for victims of crime when they come forward.

Kenny MacAskill, the justice secretary, said: "These figures provide further evidence of the scale of the challenge we have inherited.
"The public's clear concerns with alcohol, drugs and crime back my belief that we need to be tough on crime and even tougher on the causes of crime.
"If we are serious about building safer, stronger, communities for the long term, we must address the social factors that contribute to crime - chiefly drink, drugs and deprivation."
The findings suggest just over one million crimes took place in Scotland during the survey period - more than the year before, but down on 2002 levels.
Twenty-two per cent of those questioned had been the victim of at least one crime, but this did not represent a "significant" change on the previous year.

Crimes against property accounted for 56 per cent of all offences, with the remaining 44 per cent being crimes against the person.
The risk of being a victim of household crime rose slightly, but was lower than in 2002.

"However, the risk of being a victim of personal crime is at its highest since the survey began - 7 per cent - mainly due to a rise in the rate of minor assaults," said the survey compilers.

Those most at risk of crime were men and women in their late teens or early 20s, while the over-60s were said to be the least at risk.

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