Title | Public perception of the general crime rate in the local area. |
National Indicator/Target | To increase positive public perception of the general crime rate in the local area. |
Brief Description | Estimates the proportion of people who have a positive perception of the general crime rate in their local area as measured by the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey ( SCJS). |
Strategic Objective(s) to Which Indicator Relates | This indicator informs progress in relation to: Safer and Stronger |
More Detailed Definitions |
Definitions of Keywords | Public: Respondents to the SCJS, a representative sample of the adult Scottish population Local area: within 15 minutes walk of the respondent's house Positive perception: where people believe that crime has stayed the same or reduced in the past 2 years General crime: the SCJS question used for measurement asks about "crime in general" |
Evidence Source | The Scottish Crime and Justice Survey ( SCJS) Scotland's crime survey, the SCJS, provides a direct measure for this indicator by asking respondents who have stayed in their local area for 2 years or more about their perception of the crime level in the area over that period. The survey is conducted using a representative sample of the Scottish population. The crime survey in Scotland was conducted as part of the British Crime Survey in 1982 and 1988. From 1993 to 2003 a Scotland specific survey was conducted under the title 'Scottish Crime Survey' ( SCS) and then as the 'Scottish Crime and Victimisation Survey'( SCVS) in 2004 and 2006. From 2008 the crime survey in Scotland will run continuously under the title 'Scottish Crime and Justice Survey' ( SCJS) with a larger sample size, providing data annually at Police Force level from 2008/09. |
Baseline and Past Trends | The most recent data, for 2006, provides the baseline. The 2006 survey estimated that almost two thirds (65%) of respondents thought that crime in their local area had stayed the same or reduced in the past two years. This represented an improvement from 2000 and 2003 estimates, when a little over a half of respondents (55%) thought this. Past trends data is shown in the table below: 
Source: 2006 SCVS, All respondents who have lived in local area for at least two years (n=4,433); 2003 SCS (n=4,443); 2000 SCS (n=4,512) Chart: Proportion of respondents who think crime in the local area has stayed the same or reduced in the past 2 years 
Source: 2000-2003 Scottish Crime Survey ,2006 Scottish Crime and Victimisation Survey
Note: 2000 n= 4,512 , 2003 n= 4,443 and 2006 n=4,433 |
Methodology | Estimates of the prevalence of victimisation are produced using weighted analysis of survey data, along with 95% confidence intervals to give indications of the accuracy of the estimates. Full details are available in the SCVS Technical Report 2006, available upon request. |
Data Ownership and Quality Assurance | The evidence source is not National Statistics The SCJS is an externally commissioned research project. The ownership of the research materials and of the reports lies with Scottish Ministers. |
Publication of Data | Overall public perception of crime in the local neighbourhood, as measured by the SCJS will be available annually from Summer 2009. Reports will be available from the publications section of the Scottish Government website: Social Research: Criminal Justice: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Research/Research/17692/SocialResearchPubs/CriminalJustice |