Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation 2006: General Report

Crime Domain

The SIMD crime domain measures the rate of recorded SIMD crime at small area level using 2004 recorded crime data and is based on five indicators of broad crime types: crimes of violence; drug offences; domestic house breaking; minor assault; and vandalism. The indicators used were chosen on the basis of relevance to impact on the local neighbourhood and availability of data. The crime domain score is a sum of the recorded crimes in each of the indicators and is referred to as ' SIMD crime' rather than total crime, as it does not include all recorded crimes.

The SIMD crime rate uses the resident population as the denominator. As such the rates do not take into account short term increases in population, such as a city centre daytime increases due to workers and shoppers or an increase due to regular events such as football matches or less regular events such as music festivals. This should be taken into account when comparing results across data zones.

A crime domain was not included in the SIMD 2004 as small area recorded crime data was not available. As recommended by the long term strategy, appropriate data has been gathered from the eight police force areas within Scotland to create the crime domain. As this domain uses previously unpublished data, the domain received a small weight in terms of its contribution to the overall SIMD rank. A full list of indicators used to construct the domain is shown in Annex 2. For more information about the indicators included and how the domain was constructed see the SIMD 2006 Technical Report.

The crime domain is positively correlated with the employment, income, education and health domains of the SIMD 2006 (see Annex 4).

Key Points

• This is the first time a crime domain has been included in the SIMD
• Over 30 per cent of data zones in Glasgow City are in the 15% most deprived areas in terms of SIMD crime.
• Over 20 per cent of the data zones in the Fife police force area are in the 15% most deprived areas in terms of SIMD crime
• In the 15% most deprived areas in terms of crime, there is roughly one SIMD crime per six people compared to one SIMD crime per 26 people in the rest of Scotland.
• The rate of total SIMD crime is highest in large urban areas, with 657 SIMD crimes per 10,000 population.
• The rate of SIMD crime is higher in remote small towns than in accessible small towns.

SIMD crime by crime domain vigintiles

Chart 2.15 shows the distribution of SIMD crime rate by SIMD crime domain vigintiles. In the most deprived vigintile (the 5% most deprived areas in terms of crime) the SIMD crime rate is 2,447 SIMD crimes per 10,000 population, almost one SIMD crime per four people living in the area.

In the 15% most deprived areas the SIMD crime rate is 1,565 crimes per 10,000 population (roughly one crime per six people) compared to 361 crimes per 10,000 population in rest of Scotland (roughly one crime per 26 people).

Chart 2.15 Rate of SIMD crime, by crime domain vigintiles

Source: Total population from General Register Office for Scotland, SAPE 2004

Deprivation in terms of SIMD Crime in the SIMD 2006, by local authority area

Glasgow City has the highest number and share of data zones in the 15% most deprived in terms of SIMD crime (see Table 2.16). Of the 976 15% most deprived data zones in terms of crime 22 per cent (213 data zones) are in Glasgow City.

Fife has the second highest share of Scotland's data zones in the 15% most deprived in terms of SIMD crime, with 93 data zones (10 per cent) of the 15% most deprived in terms of SIMD crime across Scotland.

Within local authority areas (local share) Glasgow has the highest proportion of data zones in the 15% most deprived in terms of crime with 31 per cent followed by West Dunbartonshire with 23 per cent (27 data zones out of 118).

The Orkney Islands is the only local authority area with no data zones in Scotland's 15% most deprived areas in terms of SIMD crime.

Table 2.16 National and local share of data zones in the 15% most deprived areas in terms of SIMD crime, by local authority area

Local Authority	No of data zones in LA	15% Most deprived data zones in terms of crime: SIMD 2006
		no. of data zones	national share (%)	local share (%)
Aberdeen City	267	59	6.0	22.1
Aberdeenshire	301	12	1.2	4.0
Angus	142	11	1.1	7.7
Argyll & Bute	122	13	1.3	10.7
Clackmannanshire	64	7	0.7	10.9
Dumfries & Galloway	193	24	2.5	12.4
Dundee City	179	32	3.3	17.9
East Ayrshire	154	23	2.4	14.9
East Dunbartonshire	127	7	0.7	5.5
East Lothian	120	9	0.9	7.5
East Renfrewshire	120	5	0.5	4.2
Edinburgh, City of	549	77	7.9	14.0
Eilean Siar	36	3	0.3	8.3
Falkirk	197	25	2.6	12.7
Fife	453	93	9.5	20.5
Glasgow City	694	213	21.8	30.7
Highland	292	26	2.7	8.9
Inverclyde	110	23	2.4	20.9
Midlothian	112	16	1.6	14.3
Moray	116	12	1.2	10.3
North Ayrshire	179	33	3.4	18.4
North Lanarkshire	418	58	5.9	13.9
Orkney Islands	27	0	0.0	0.0
Perth & Kinross	175	13	1.3	7.4
Renfrewshire	214	31	3.2	14.5
Scottish Borders	130	12	1.2	9.2
Shetland Islands	30	3	0.3	10.0
South Ayrshire	147	16	1.6	10.9
South Lanarkshire	398	51	5.2	12.8
Stirling	110	11	1.1	10.0
West Dunbartonshire	118	27	2.8	22.9
West Lothian	211	31	3.2	14.7
Scotland	6505	976	100.0	15.0

Source: Total population from General Register Office for Scotland, SAPE 2004

Deprivation in terms of SIMD Crime in the SIMD 2006, by police force area

The distribution of data zones in the 15% most deprived areas in terms of SIMD crime for police force areas are shown in table 2.17. Over 50 per cent of Scotland's 976 data zones in the 15% most deprived areas in terms of SIMD crime are within the Strathclyde police force area. A fifth of the data zones in the Fife police force area are in the 15% most deprived areas in terms of SIMD crime.

Deprivation in terms of SIMD Crime in the SIMD 2006, in urban and rural areas

The proportion and share of data zones in the 15% most deprived areas, in terms of SIMD crime, are highest in the large urban areas (see Table 2.18). There is a clear urban rural split in the distribution, with low proportions of data zones in the 15% most deprived areas in terms of SIMD crime in accessible and remote rural areas. The proportion of data zones in the 15% most deprived areas in terms of SIMD crime in remote small towns is almost double the proportion of data zones in the accessible small towns.

Table 2.19 shows the number of SIMD crimes and the SIMD crime rate for urban and rural areas. The SIMD crime rate is lower in rural areas (accessible and remote) than in urban areas and is highest in large urban areas, with 657 SIMD crimes per 10,000 population, roughly one SIMD recorded crime for every 15 people. The SIMD crime rate is higher in remote small towns (546 SIMD crimes per 10,000 population) than in accessible small towns (448 SIMD crimes per 10,000 population).

Table 2.17 Share of 15% most deprived data zones in terms of SIMD crime, by police force area

Police Force Area	Number of data zones in police force area	15% most deprived data zones in terms of SIMD crime
		Number of data zones	% share of Scotland's 15% most deprived	% of data zones in police force area
Strathclyde	2,801	500	51.2	17.9
Lothian & Borders	1,122	145	14.9	12.9
Grampian	684	83	8.5	12.1
Tayside	496	56	5.7	11.3
Fife	453	93	9.5	20.5
Central	371	43	4.4	11.6
Northern	385	32	3.3	8.3
Dumfries & Galloway	193	24	2.5	12.4
Scotland	6,505	976	100.0	15.0

Table 2.18 Share of data zones in the 15% most deprived data zones in terms of SIMD crime, by urban-rural classification

Urban Rural	Number of data zones in urban/rural area	15% most deprived data zones in terms of SIMD crime
		Number of data zones	% share of Scotland's 15% most deprived	% of data zones in urban/rural area
Large Urban Areas	2,456	495	50.7	20.2
Other Urban Areas	1,982	369	37.8	18.6
Accessible Small Towns	608	56	5.7	9.2
Remote Small Towns	256	46	4.7	18.0
Accessible Rural	771	8	0.8	1.0
Remote Rural	432	2	0.2	0.5
Scotland	6,505	976	100.0	15.0

Source: Scottish Executive Urban-Rural Classification 2005-2006

Table 2.19 Count and rate of SIMD crime, by urban-rural classification

Urban Rural	Total population 2004	Number of SIMD Crimes	SIMD crimes per 10,000 population
Large Urban Areas	1,976,907	129,864	657
Other Urban Areas	1,519,084	90,485	596
Accessible Small Towns	464,423	20,794	448
Remote Small Towns	190,092	10,384	546
Accessible Rural	603,614	15,805	262
Remote Rural	324,280	6,608	204
Scotland	5,078,400	273,939	539

Source: Scottish Executive Urban-Rural Classification 2005-2006
Note: Totals may not sum due to rounding