- Asked by: Gil Paterson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 22 January 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 21 February 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive how many cases of serious assault of women there were in each year from 1993 to 1999 inclusive.
Answer
The recorded crime statistics collected centrally do not include information on the victims of the crimes and therefore cannot distinguish those crimes of assault where the victims were women. The only information available comes from the Scottish Crime Survey (SCS) which collects information through interviews with a sample of 5,000 adults resident in households across Scotland. The Survey is conducted approximately every four years.
The Survey does not distinguish between serious and petty assault because of difficulties with accurately categorising such crimes. The results of the 2000 Survey suggest that assaults against women are rare (only 1.2% of women said they had been assaulted in 1999), but that many of these victims are repeatedly assaulted. The results given below are for all assaults against women in 1992, 1995 and 2000. They are presented as rates per 10,000 women in the population in order to remove any effect that changing population rates may have on crime levels.
Rates of assault on women, 1992-1999
Year | Rate per 10,000 women |
1992 | 234 |
1995 | 250 |
1999 | 256 |
Source: 1993, 1996 and 2000 Scottish Crime Surveys
- Asked by: Gil Paterson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 February 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Iain Gray on 15 February 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what initiatives it is planning to combat sexual violence outwith domestic settings.
Answer
We have put in place a wide range of criminal justice responses to tackle sexual violence including strengthening the sex offenders legislation, and providing resources to put more police on our streets. A White Paper in the spring will outline further proposals for legislation on serious and violent sexual offenders.
- Asked by: Gil Paterson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 December 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 6 February 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-11531 by Mr Jim Wallace on 7 December 2000, whether it has any plans to run TV or radio campaigns to raise public awareness of the effect of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Answer
The Executive has no plans to launch such campaigns. However, as I made clear in my answer to question S1W-11531, a range of information about the Human Rights Act has already been made available to the public.
- Asked by: Gil Paterson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 22 January 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Colin Boyd on 5 February 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive how many cases of domestic assault were prosecuted through sheriff courts in (i) 1998-99 and (ii) 1999-2000.
Answer
The information is not available.
- Asked by: Gil Paterson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 22 January 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Colin Boyd on 5 February 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive how many cases of domestic assault were brought before sheriff courts between 1992 and 1997.
Answer
The information is not available.
- Asked by: Gil Paterson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 22 January 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Colin Boyd on 5 February 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to prosecute all cases of domestic violence through sheriff courts.
Answer
There are no plans to prosecute all cases of domestic violence in the sheriff court. The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service will continue to consider each case on its individual facts and circumstances.
- Asked by: Gil Paterson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 22 January 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Colin Boyd on 5 February 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive how many cases of domestic assault resulted in a guilty disposition between February 1998 and February 2000.
Answer
The information is not available.
- Asked by: Gil Paterson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 22 January 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Iain Gray on 5 February 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what types of evidence the police take into account when seeking corroborative evidence in cases of domestic assault.
Answer
The types of evidence the police take into account when seeking corroborative evidence in cases of domestic assault are no different from those in any other type of crime, although such evidence can be more difficult to obtain for a number of reasons. The police will take a statement from the victim and any eye witnesses, although it is less likely in such cases that there will be eye witnesses. Statements would also be sought from neighbours and from children present in the house, if appropriate. Police officers attending domestic incidents can also give evidence about what they found when they arrived at the locus, the condition of the victim, the actions of the accused and so on. In addition, physical evidence can be sought, such as photographs of injuries, medical statements about injuries and expert evidence about how injuries could have been caused. DNA, fingerprint and analysis of, for example, bloodstains can also be used, as can previous history evidence from police records.
- Asked by: Gil Paterson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 22 January 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Iain Gray on 5 February 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive how many charges of domestic assault there were in each year between 1990 and 2000.
Answer
There is no specific charge of "domestic assault". However, statistics on domestic abuse recorded by the police in Scotland are contained in the Scottish Executive Statistical Bulletin (CrJ/2000/5), published in August 2000, a copy of which is available in SPICe (Bib. no. 1770). The bulletin presents statistics on incidents of domestic abuse returned by the eight Scottish police forces between 1 April and 31 December 1999. This is the first time that such data has been collated.
- Asked by: Gil Paterson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 22 January 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Colin Boyd on 5 February 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive how many cases of domestic assault were dropped by the Procurators Fiscal because of a lack of evidence in each year since 1997.
Answer
The information is not available.