Recorded Crimes and Offences Involving Firearms, Scotland, 2020-21 and 2021-22

Annex 9: Comparator data

1. Country comparisons should be made with some caution as each country's statistics are based on separate collection systems with their own definitions for what constitutes an offence involving a firearm. The Office for National Statistics publishes information on offences involving firearms in England and Wales. Chapter 4 on Trends for different types of violent crime in England and Wales: year ending March 2022, released in November 2022, includes information on offences involving firearms.

1. The Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS) is a survey of public experiences and perceptions of crime and the justice system in Scotland. The 2021-22 survey is the latest sweep of the current guise of the SCJS, with the first being conducted in 2008-09. The survey involves interviews with adults (aged 16 or over) who live in private residential addresses in Scotland.

2. Only certain categories of crime covered by the SCJS are directly comparable with police recorded crime statistics. These categories are collectively referred to as comparable crime. Comparable crime can be broken down into the following three crime groups.

• acquisitive crime: comprising housebreaking, theft of a motor vehicle and bicycle theft;
• vandalism: including both vehicle and property vandalism; and
• violent crime: comprising assault and robbery.