Is Scotland a violent country??

[Earlybird]

From the Times Online:

A UNITED Nations report has labelled Scotland the most violent country in the developed world, with people three times more likely to be assaulted than in America.
England and Wales recorded the second highest number of violent assaults while Northern Ireland recorded the fewest.

The study, based on telephone interviews with victims of crime in 21 countries, found that more than 2,000 Scots were attacked every week, almost ten times the official police figures. They include non-sexual crimes of violence and serious assaults.

Violent crime has doubled in Scotland over the past 20 years and levels, per head of population, are now comparable with cities such as Rio de Janeiro, Johannesburg and Tbilisi.

The attacks have been fuelled by a ?booze and blades? culture in the west of Scotland which has claimed more than 160 lives over the past five years. Since January there have been 13 murders, 145 attempted murders and 1,100 serious assaults involving knives in the west of Scotland. The problem is made worse by sectarian violence, with hospitals reporting higher admissions following Old Firm matches.

Read the rest here:

www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1786945,00.html

Can this be right? Do those of you who live in Scotland feel anxious about violent crime?

[Nik72]

Feel a damn sight safer living here in Edinburgh than I would in London. There are a lot of problems with gun & knife crime, especially in the West but outside of these pockets I would say on the whole Scotland isn't a violent society. But maybe I just live in a Middle Class bubble .

[tissy]

well, I live in the West of Scotland, and I wouldn't go out at night without dh...
I suspect it depends which bit you live in, and who you know; certainly sectarianism is rife round here, but unless you are obviously and provaocatively one one side or the other, how could they tell?(What I mean is, for example, if you go on an Orange order march, you are making it clear where your allegiances lie).

Sorry, waffling a bit (too much wine). Don't feel anxious, but wouldn't ask for trouble by going out alone in Kilmarnock!

[starshaker]

nope i love scotland dont like glasgow or bigger places but the wee places are great the people are friendly

[Caligula]

Yes.

That Braveheart....

[Aimsmum]

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[TwoIfBySea]

I don't feel anxious about crime as such but I do think the drink problem has gotten out of hand. I certainly don't remember young teenagers rolling about drunk when I was that age and I think the unemployment problems have added to that (parents never worked then kids don't want to work and so on.)

I feel safer here though than I would in England.

Agree about the Orange marches, they are a particular bugbear and a disgrace to Scotland.

[helsi]

I saw something about this on TV the other day but not about Scotland as a whole but just about Glasgow. It has the highest murder rate in the whole of Europe.
I don't think they should have generalised the country as a whole though.

[Aimsmum]

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[tribpot]

Well, here is my take. I lived in a semi-decent town in West Lothian for about 5 years. In that time, my front fence was kicked in three or four times, and my car was once graffitied.

I then moved to England and five weeks later my house was burgled and set on fire. The bloke from Transco reckoned two more minutes and it would have exploded, as half a can of petrol was left under the gas fire, and the bookcase underneath the gas meter was completely doused.

The response of my Scottish friends was (not surprisingly) "I am never moving to England". Their perception is that England is a more violent country - and who am I to disagree?!?!

In fairness I left the UK entirely after that, but since moving back have had no problems - touch wood.

Btw, the weekend after I moved into my Scottish home, the Armed Response Unit were round at 7 a.m. one Sunday morning, because a bloke had been seen wandering around our estate with a gun. It turned out to be a replica but at the time we thought "where on EARTH have we moved to?"!

[suedonim]

It's pretty quiet where I live in Scotland but I do think there is a massive drink and knife problem in some places. For years, in the courts it seemed that being drunk was an excuse for committing a crime, not part of the crime itself, with lighter sentences being passed if you could prove you were out of your head at the time and therefore didn't intend it. I think there is less of that attitude now but the number of knife crimes is appalling and also the sectaarianism in the west of Scotland is a disgrace.

[Aimsmum]

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[weesaidie]

I live in Edinburgh and I don't feel particularly scared. I live in the town centre and I often walk through if I have been on a night out. I have seen the odd hamfisted attempt at a fight but nothing too serious.

Just my experience though. I do think Glasgow is probably more dangerous due to the secretarian stuff.

[tabitha]

I personally find this difficult to believe. I certainly feel safe where I live but I do know that, as in every town/city there are problems with fights etc especilly after 'chucking out' time' in the pubs. Also, there is a culture of carryng knives among young men (and possibly some young women too) particularly in parts of the West of Scotland. I also know that the murder / assault rates for the Strathclyde police force area is much, much higher than for the rest of the country and possibly this skews the statistics for Scotland as a whole.
In saying that I find it very hard to believe that Scotland is more violent than the USA or even England. And as for Rio de Janiero or Johannesburg, well I certainly percieve Scotland to be less violent than either of them, although that is my perception rather than based on statistics or anything like that.
Also, I don't think that the country has become more violent in the last 20 years. All I think has happened is that more assaults are reported to the police and recorded by them. 20 years ago, if there was a punch-up outside a pub, the police might disperse the fighters but wouldn't record twenty or so violent assaults whereas now this is what might happen.
Personally this sort of thing annoys me. The Scottish tourist industry has enough to contend with, what with the weather and the midgies without reports like this.

[weesaidie]

Statistics are a strange thing too. I mean they are easily skewed depending on who you ask, how the questions are worded, etc.

Try to take them with a pinch of salt.

[Aimsmum]

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[Skribble]

Neds/ chavs/ men they are everywhere and as long as they drink there will be violence. Same all over I think England and Wales has its share of yob culture and violent crime. Perhaps it has more to do with the way crime is recorded.

[myturn]

No I certainly do not feel unsafe living here. However, there has been a definate rise in gangs of youths wandering around our village, and there have been problems over the last year. Infact, last week the police were called in as they were trying to smash in our local shop. But it has not got to the stage where I feel remotely scared to go out - yet. I certainly don't believe that Scotland is much more violent than other places, it just has its problems like anywhere else.

[QueenOfQuotes]

"I certainly don't remember young teenagers rolling about drunk when I was that age and I think the unemployment problems have added to that"

don't know how old you are.....but when I was a teenager I was one of those "rolling around drunk"......remember snogging an almost complete stranger in the St. Cuthber's Graveyard in Edinburgh

[Skribble]

What is it with graveyards thats where I spent my youth.

[QueenOfQuotes]

oh it was only the once, the rest of the time I spent my time walking (very drunkedly) back from The Jolly Judge on the Royal Mile, back to the West End where I was at boarding school

Oh and once rounded off my last night in Edinburgh with a trip to the pub near the Usher hall, followed by the Gay Bar at the top of Leith Walk LOL. I ended up snogging a guy (who my best friend had fancied for about 5yrs) on the dance floor there

[Skribble]

Phoneboxes and bus stops were always popular but I liked abandoned buildings and graveyards (the goth in me).

[Aimsmum]

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[expatinscotland]

LOL! I lived in the US for 31 years. Was held up at gunpoint - twice. Had family members who were carjacked, robbed and mugged at gunpoint. Once had an escaped prisoner trying to break into my house and had to point a gun at him till the cops got there. Burgled twice. Had my car stolen once.

And Scotland is the most violent place?

Gimma a break!

[Aimsmum]

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[expatinscotland]

Yes, honestly.

Once was when I went to get the mail at my apartment complex. Most large complexes have boxes for tenants at the entrance, you use a key to access them. So I went to get mine and heard that tell-tale click - of a gun. Fella just said, Gimme your bag. So I slid it off my shoulder, he got into a car and drove off. I never saw his face.

My dad went to one of those petrol garage shops to get some ice for this big BBQ my parents were having. He didn't come back and he didn't come back. So one of hte guests drove over. He found two employees and 6 customers tied up in the back. They'd been held up at gunpoint.