One in four Scots will be a victim of crime

MORE than one in four Scots is likely to become a victim of
crime this year, according to a study on victims published
yesterday.

The survey also showed that although overall risks were low,
people were more at risk of violent crime in Britain than in the
supposedly violenceridden United States.

The 1996 International Crime Victimisation Survey compared
ordinary peoples' experiences of crime in Scotland, Northern
Ireland and England and Wales with eight other industrialised
countries.

England and Wales came out the most violent, with a total of 3.6
per cent reporting they had been the victim of a robbery or a
violent or sexual attack in 1995, compared to 3.5 per cent in
the United States.

Scots were less at risk, with 2.7 per cent reporting they had
been the victim of a violent crime on a par with Canada. The
international average was 2.5 per cent.

Criminologists cast doubt on how accurate a phone survey of
crime could be, but the Home Secretary, Jack Straw, said he took
the ICVS, jointly carried out by the Home Office and the Dutch
ministry of justice, very seriously.

"This is a deplorable record and shows the size of the challenge
we face," said Mr Straw, speaking on the same day as he
announced tough new crime measures for England and Wales.

"We have already made a start... but more is needed to rectify
the major problems we have inherited and I intend to see that
this happens."

Researchers asked about 11 different offences. They found that
people in England and Wales reported the highest rates of theft
of and from cars, burglary, robbery and assault of all the
countries surveyed.

Scots reported only slightly lower rates of car theft, theft
from cars and assault, but the risks of housebreaking and
robbery were lower than south of the Border, and only average
for the survey.

Bicycle theft and sexual attacks were less common in Britain
than abroad. Northern Ireland, despite its reputation for
sectarian violence, recorded relatively low crime rates in all
categories of offence including the lowest rate of violent
assaults of all the 11 countries surveyed.

Individuals were equally likely to become a crime victim in
England and Wales as in the Netherlands in 1995, at 31 per cent.
Scots came fourth, on 26 per cent 2 per cent above the
international average while Northern Ireland was the most law
abiding society with only 17 per cent reporting they had
suffered any kind of crime in 1995.

The researchers also asked about the public's attitudes to crime
and to the police. They found that two thirds of people in the
UK believed the police were doing a good job only Canada and
the US rated law enforcement officers higher.

Britons were also in favour of being tough on crime, with nearly
half strongly in favour of jailing a persistent housebreaker,
compared to just 10 per cent in Switzerland and Austria.

Scottish, English and Welsh people were relatively likely to
report crime to the police, particularly housebreaking and car
theft. They were the most security conscious about locking their
home and the most fearful about being out alone after dark.

Yesterday, some criminologists criticised the survey, which was
based mainly on random telephone calls to between 1,000 and
2,000 people in each country.

"We think that the Scottish Crime Survey, which is also based on
a survey of victims, is a better indication of the true
picture," said a Scottish Office home affairs spokesman.

Prof David Smith, a criminologist at Edinburgh University's
Centre for Law and Society, said phone surveys were a less well
validated method than facetoface interviews, but the ICVS was
still better than comparing statistics on crime recorded by
police for different countries, because recording methods varied
widely.

Overall, however, the US comparison was misleading, said Prof
Smith. America's murder rate was 12 times that in England and
Wales, but this would not show up in a victim survey.

"In addition, the survey does not show that among what it terms
contact, or violent, crimes is listed everything from a handbag
snatch to an assault that leaves someone permanently disabled,"
said Prof Smith.

The survey compilers said every effort had been made to ensure
the study was meaningful. The same questionnaire was used in
different countries, and procedures were tightly controlled to
ensure comparability, said a spokesman.