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Scotland's Chief Statistician today published Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS) 2008-09: First Findings, presenting statistics on adults' perceptions and experiences of crime in Scotland.

The SCJS provides a complementary measure of crime to police-recorded crime statistics.

This is the first report of the survey since 2006 following a major redesign.

The SCJS was recently assessed by the UK Statistics Authority and has been designated as a National Statistics product which means that the statistics are deemed to be compliant with the Code of Practice on Official Statistics, produced according to sound methods and managed impartially and objectively in the public interest.

The SCJS is the data source for two National Indicators for the Scotland's National Performance Framework - crime victimisation rate and public perception of general crime rate in local area.

The results published in the First Findings include headline estimates for the majority of questions contained in the SCJS 2008/09. The report does not include in-depth analysis and it is intended that further research will be undertaken on a number of topics including civil justice and sub-national analysis.

The main findings are:

• The SCJS 2008/09 estimates that there were 1.04 million crimes in Scotland and that 20.4 per cent of adults were a victim of crime (which informs National Indicator 30- crime victimisation rate)
• The risk of being a victim of crime in Scotland (20.4 per cent, SCJS 2008/09) was lower than the corresponding risk in England and Wales (23.4 per cent, British Crime Survey 2008/09)

Violent Crime

• The risk of violent crime estimated by the BCS 2008/09 for adults in England and Wales (3.2 per cent) was similar to that measured in Scotland (4.1 per cent) but the incidence rate of violent crime per 10,000 individuals was higher in Scotland. This suggests that violent crimes were more concentrated amongst fewer victims in Scotland than in England and Wales
• The victim reported that the offender(s) had a knife in 3 per cent of all crime as measured in the SCJS 2008/09
• In 58 per cent of violent crime measured by the SCJS 2008/09, victims said the offender(s) were under the influence of alcohol. This was a higher proportion than estimated by the BCS for England and Wales in 2008/09 where victims reported that the offender(s) were under the influence of alcohol in 47 per cent of violent crime
• In three in ten (29 per cent) violent crimes, victims said that they had consumed alcohol immediately before the incident

Victims' Experiences

• 38 per cent of crime was reported to the police. The reporting rate appears to vary on whether the property was insured and/or claimed for and on victims' perceptions of the criminality of what had happened. Victims said that the crime was not reported to the police because the incident was too trivial and not worth reporting in 41 per cent of unreported crime
• In 57 per cent of reported crimes, victims said they were satisfied with the way the police handled the matter while in 28% of reported crimes they were dissatisfied
• The majority of victims were satisfied with the support and advice provided by police liaison officers, Victim Support Scotland and other organisations

Public Perceptions

• 69 per cent of adults in Sotland perceived the crime rate in their local area to have stayed the same or reduced in the past two years. This was a statistically significant increase to National Indicator 35 ( public perception of general crime rate in local area) compared with the baseline of 65 per cent in 2005-06
• The majority of adults think that most crimes are not common in their local area and more people think this than in previous crime surveys. Also fewer adults are worried that most crimes might happen to them than found in previous crime surveys
• 61 per cent of adults in Scotland said that they thought their local police force were doing a good job overall with the most common reason being the perception that the police are a visible presence (12 per cent of adults). Confidence in the local police force's ability ranged from 64% of adults who were confident in their local police force's ability to investigate incidents after they occur, to 46% of adults who were confident in their local police force's ability to prevent crime

Other Findings

• 30 per cent of adults had experienced at least one civil justice problem or dispute which they found difficult to deal with or that they could not solve easily in the last three years
• Of those adults whose jobs involved contact with the public, 35 per cent had experienced either verbal abuse or physical abuse in the workplac