The future of recorded crime and police activity statistics: consultation

Part One – Proposal to introduce new Crime Groups in 2022

7. Statistics on recorded crime are currently split into five groups, namely non-sexual crimes of violence, sexual crimes, crimes of dishonesty, fire-raising/vandalism etc. and other crimes. Crimes recorded under the specific Coronavirus legislation enacted since March 2020 have also been presented as a separate group in recent publications. A further two groups are used to present data on recorded offences – miscellaneous offences and motor vehicle offences (see Annex A). This section invites users to provide feedback on a new grouping structure, which may be introduced in 2022.

8. The new grouping structure is based on feedback received from an earlier consultation in 2019, which asked respondents to consider an alternative way to present recorded crime statistics. This alternative proposed a greater number of groups, replacing the existing grouping structure with a more granular approach.

9. A report summarising the responses received through this earlier engagement was published in June 2021, following some delay due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and the resultant increase in demand for associated analysis: Official Statistics - recorded crime and related topics: consultation responses - summary - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

10. The summary report highlighted that for some questions there was unanimous or clear majority agreement amongst users, whilst in other areas opinions were more varied.

11. Where there was unanimous or clear majority agreement, this has been reflected in the new groups proposed for the presentation of statistics on recorded crimes and offences. As such, the new grouping structure will include:

• Common assault being re-classified from an offence to a crime (and as such moved into Scotland's recorded crime total)
• Common assault being further broken down into common assault with injury and common assault without injury
• The 'Fire raising, vandalism etc.' group being renamed to 'Crimes of damage and reckless behaviour'
• Stalking being re-classified from an offence to a crime (and as with common assault, being moved in Scotland's recorded crime total)
• Crimes of Drug possession (for personal use) continuing to be classified as crimes (rather than offences)
• The 'Miscellaneous offences' group being split into two groups - 'Anti-social offences' and 'Miscellaneous offences' and
• The 'Motor vehicle offences' group being renamed 'Road traffic offences'

12. In other areas opinions were more mixed. The most significant was between (i) a desire to have a more detailed and granular approach to grouping crimes and offences, and therefore more than the existing groups (as suggested in the 2019 consultation) and (ii) a desire for simplicity and as such to still have one group and in effect one total within these statistics to cover non-sexual crimes of violence, and likewise for sexual crimes.

13. Given the above variation in user feedback, we have provided two options within this consultation for the new grouping structure. The first, Option A (see Annex B) retains fewer broader groups for crimes and offences, and continues to present one group for non-sexual crimes of violence and one group for sexual crimes. The second, Option B (see Annex C) takes the more granular approach, with several more groups than at present, and is similar to the alternative groups presented to users in the 2019 consultation.

14. We would like to invite user views through this consultation on whether they would prefer Option A or Option B for the new grouping structure. This will then help inform the Crime Board's final decision, prior to the possible introduction of these new groups in 2022.

15. A complete breakdown of where individual crime and offence types are placed within the current classification as well as for Option A and B can be found within the supplementary tables available in the supporting files section of this publication.

Proposal for splitting Common assault into with injury and without injury

16. Common assault is currently classified as a miscellaneous offence. The 2019 consultation asked (i) whether this should be re-classified as a crime (and therefore be included in Scotland's count of recorded crime) and (ii) whether we should split Common assault into Common assault with physical injury and Common assault without physical injury (henceforth shortened to Common assault with / without injury). Such a breakdown would provide additional detail on the different characteristics of Common assault, and would be a similar approach to that taken for England & Wales by the Office for National Statistics.

17. As highlighted in paragraph 11 above, there was agreement from users that reclassifying the offence of Common assault as a crime, and therefore seeing it included within the totals for recorded crime in Scotland, would increase the value of these statistics. Users also emphasised the importance of ensuring that any change could be back-revised, so that a consistent time-series was available. Finally, should such a change be made, they highlighted the importance of explaining the impact of this to users within the recorded crime statistics.

18. Respondents were also supportive of separating Common assault into with and without injury, albeit there was some concern about the terms 'with injury' and 'without injury', as the latter might be viewed as suggesting a less severe form of Common assault, overlooking the impact of psychological injuries, which could still cause significant harm.

19. As there was such a high level of support to re-classify Common assault as a crime, this has been included in both options highlighted in paragraph 13.

20. The Crime Board has undertaken further work to refine the proposed definition of Common assault with / without injury. Once introduced, this is the definition police officers will use when recording these crimes, subject to any future amendments that may be required as a result of feedback received from this consultation or other developments. These proposed definitions are provided below.

Common assault with injury

Common assault with injury would include any case where the victim sustained at least one of the following type of injury:

• Grazes
• Scratches
• Bruising
• Reddening of the skin
• Swelling
• Black eye
• A broken nose which only includes breakage of cartilage and no corrective surgery required
• Any non-visible injury causing more than a passing moment of pain or discomfort, which has an adverse impact on the victim
• Any act causing infection (for example spitting or coughing)

It should be noted that if the extent of injury is deemed serious e.g. resulting in detention in hospital for treatment of the injury (including broken bones, cuts and lacerations that will scar etc.), then a Serious assault will be recorded instead. This represents no change from current recording practice.

Common assault without injury

Any deliberate attack upon the person by another that leaves no visible mark or injury, does not cause more than a passing moment of pain or discomfort, and has no adverse impact on the victim. Acts such as spitting or coughing at a person would also amount to a non-injury assault unless confirmed that the act caused an infection.

Impact on other statistical bulletins

21. The approach outlined in paragraph 7 for the grouping and presentation of police recorded crime statistics is also used in other publications on related topics – the largest of which is the National Statistics on Criminal Proceedings in Scotland. This presents information on the outcome of court proceedings, including a detailed breakdown for each of the seven crime and offence groups. Similar information on the committing of crimes and offences is also provided in topic-based bulletins on specific areas of police or justice-related activity (for example police recorded Domestic Abuse or Reconvictions of Offenders).

22. To ensure the existing level of continuity between these different statistics is maintained, it is very likely that any changes made to how criminal activity is presented within the police recorded crime bulletin will also be fully reflected within the other statistical bulletins. Statisticians responsible for those other products have contributed to the production of this consultation, and would like to invite their own users to respond if they have any views.

23. In addition to the National Statistics on police recorded crime, Police Scotland publish a quarterly management information report. These reports are produced to demonstrate Police Scotland's commitment to transparency and are based on crime and offence data drawn from their administrative systems, prior to its quality assurance for the National Statistics. Police Scotland plan to reflect any changes to the grouping structure, as a result of this consultation, to the presentation of data within these reports.

Questions to consider

Considering the two options proposed for the new grouping of crimes and offences:

• Option A (retain fewer broader groups, with the addition of one offence group) (Annex B)
• Option B (have a more detailed and granular approach, similar to the 2019 consultation alternative with sixteen groups) (Annex C)

Question One: Would you have a preference between Option A and Option B? If so, why?

Question Two: Does your preferred option meet your needs? Is there anything we can do to increase the value of it?

Question Three: Regarding common assault, are you content with the proposed definition of with / without injury?

Question Four: Do you have any further feedback on this part of the consultation?