United Kingdom: Drink linked to Scottish crime problems

 

Scotland's chronic problems with alcohol abuse have left it lagging well behind England and Wales in the fight against crime, a study claims on Monday.

Overall crime in Scotland is at the same level now as it was in 1999 when the country was given its own parliament, according to an analysis of UK crime surveys by the Institute for Public Policy Research, a think-tank.

During a similar period, crime rates fell 11.2 percentage points in England and Wales and 9.2 percentage points in Northern Ireland.

Assault and vandalism are a particular problem for the Scots, according to the study. The number of incidents has increased over the past decade even as they have fallen in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Rick Muir, author of the IPPR report, said it was impossible to be certain why Scottish crime had not fallen in line with the rest of the UK, but that "booze is something that stands out".

Scots have been ranked as the eighth biggest drinkers of alcohol in the world per head of population.

"The fact that Scotland has a bigger problem with vandalism and assault than burglary or vehicle theft shows alcohol is likely to play an important role," Mr Muir said. In the most recent Scottish Crime and Justice Survey, 58 per cent of the victims of violence said their attacker had been drinking, compared with 47 per cent in England and Wales.

The study will be embarrassing for Holyrood because overall crime has fallen across Europe over the past 15 years, largely as a result of people becoming more prosperous.

Scottish government officials stressed on Sunday that the number of criminal offences recorded by police was at a 30-year low.

However, statisticians and criminologists prefer surveys of the general public - as used by the IPPR - rather than police figures because many people do not report crimes.

The Scottish government said: "While figures suggest crime levels in Scotland have generally remained more static than in England and Wales, they are still lower - 20 per cent of adults in Scotland have been the victim of at least one crime in Scotland compared to 23 per cent in England and Wales."

The ruling Scottish National party is seeking to clamp down on the drinks industry in an attempt to get to grips with the alcohol problem. A bill being debated by the Scottish parliament would set a minimum price for a unit of alcohol to stop drink being sold cheaply. The measure is opposed by the drinks industry, which says it will penalise hard-up but sensible drinkers.

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