SEX AND DRUGS CRIME ON INCREASE

Pattern Shifts Away From Break-ins And Assaults

THE pattern of crime in Scotland is shifting, with fewer break-ins and
assaults, but more sex attacks and drugs offences recorded by the police.

In the last six years, crime has fallen back to levels not seen since the
early days of the Conservative government in 1981, reported crime
statistics for 1997 published by the Scottish Office yesterday suggest.

Last year, crime fell 7 per cent. Property crime fell the most, with
housebreaking halved in six years to 55,500 cases and car theft down 16 per
cent. Violent crime was down by 11 per cent on 1996, with the number of
serious assaults down 13 per cent or 900 cases.

Within the broad picture of less crime and fewer victims, reports of
serious sexual assault rose by 14 per cent, an extra 250 incidents. The
police also arrested 66 per cent more women for prostitution (1,550 instead
of 930), and 25 per cent more people for drug possession - 20,900 instead
of 16,700.

The home affairs minister, Henry McLeish, said: "My judgment is that the
number of sexual offences has increased. To what extent, it is difficult to
gauge. More people are now coming forward to tell the police about sexual
abuse crimes which may have been committed against them years and years ago."

The Scottish Office has set up two pilot projects to analyse whether the
extra sexual offences being reported are recent or happened in the past, Mr
McLeish said.

Women's groups have estimated that as few as one in 20 sex attacks are
reported. Against this backdrop, 28 per cent more women came forward last
year to complain of rape (123 extra cases), 39 per cent more cases of lewd
and libidinous practices were recorded (534 more reports), and 62 per cent
more families reported incest (37 extra cases recorded by the police).

r McLeish said Labour had cracked down on sex offences, creating the sex
offender register, proposing sex offender orders and much longer and
stricter supervision of released perverts, and setting up a panel under
Lady Cosgrove to look strategically at the whole issue.

He revealed that in June he would be launching a Scotland-wide campaign to
clamp down on violence against women and children. There would, however, be
no new funds for the campaign, a fact greeted with concern by hard-pressed
charities helping abused women.

June Strachan, an outreach worker with Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre, said
it was ironic that Mr McLeish should highlight violence against women the
day after the Rape Crisis Centre suffered massive cuts to its core funding.
"I basically agree with Mr McLeish. More women are feeling confident to
report rape to the police these days," she said. "As to whether these
crimes are increasing, there is no way of knowing.

"We would like service provision to keep pace with the rising numbers of
incidents being reported. Next year, we will be struggling to provide the
same level of service, and will have to fundraise very hard simply to keep
going."

Alison Patterson, the director of Victim Support Scotland, whose Scottish
Office funding was frozen this year, said more women were coming forward to
report sex attacks, but they were still being let down by the legal system.
"Significant numbers who have reported and go through the system then find
there is no prosecution, or their experience in court is so horrendous they
would have been better not reporting," she said.

A spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland said
the rising number of sexual assaults was "worrying", but many of the
reports were historic, relating to crime committed several years
previously. The rise showed victims had more confidence in the police and
the courts.

Drugs workers said they knew of no massive increase in drug use or drug
availability last year that would account for the 22 per cent rise in
arrests for possession.

The police's crime clear-up rate rose in 1997 from 37 per cent to 39 per
cent. Strathclyde was the most crime-ridden area of Scotland, with 926
recorded crimes per 10,000 people. Second came Tayside with 885 crimes per
10,000 people, followed by Grampian with 835, and Lothian and Borders with
818. The Highlands were the most law-abiding area of Scotland, with just
437 crimes recorded per 10,000 people.

Sir Robert Smith, the Scottish Liberal Democrats' crime spokesman, said the
rise in crimes of indecency was concerning.

Roseanna Cunningham, the justice spokeswoman for the Scottish National
Party, saidScotland urgently needed a strategy to tackle the whole spectrum
of crimes related to violence against women.

Paul Cullen, the home affairs spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives,
said: "These figures for sexual and drug-related crime are very
disturbing."