Background
to the
Research
- The CAS aims to provide
an objective assessment of public perceptions and views on crime,
law and order and policing issues in NI.
Research
Approach
- The sample for the CAS is 2,400 addresses
randomly selected from the Valuation and Lands Agency list of private
addresses.One adult (aged 16+) was then selected
randomly from within each household to participate in the survey.
- A total of 1,570 interviews were obtained.
Main
Findings
Perceptions of the level of crime
- The majority of respondents thought vandalism
(73%), car crime (72%), burglary (71%) and illegal drug use (63%)
were not common in their local area and only 4% thought that people in their area
were likely to be attacked and have things stolen from them in the
street.
- While 57% of respondents thought the level
of crime in their area was the same as two years ago, 30% thought
that the level of crime had increased.
- In NI overall, respondents wanted the police
to pay most attention to paramilitary activity (32%), organised crime
(14%) and illegal drug use (13%).
Community Policing
- Over three-quarters (79%) of respondents
thought it was important for local people to have a say in the way
in which they are policed.
- Just under half of all respondents (48%)
thought that there were too few Catholics in the police force in NI
while 49% thought there were too few women.
- Nearly two-fifths of respondents (37%)
had initiated contact with the police during the previous two years,
mostly to report a crime or other incident (71%).
- Of these respondents, 61% were satisfied
with the way the police handled the matter.
- Around two-thirds of respondents (65%)
thought that the police in their area did a good job.
The courts and criminal justice system
- Only 13% of respondents had had any contact
with the courts in the two years before the interview.
- Half of all respondents thought the system
was effective in bringing people who commit crimes to justice.
- Nearly two-thirds (65%) of respondents
thought the police were doing a good job, while 42% thought that judges
and magistrates, adult courts (40%), prisons (40%) and the probation
services (40%) were doing a good job.
- 60% of respondents believed the criminal
justice system in NI was fair.
- Just over one quarter (29%) thought the
criminal justice system was effective in dealing with young people
accused of crime, while just over a quarter thought the youth courts
were doing a good job (26%).
- However, 71% thought the way the police
and the courts deal with juvenile offenders was too lenient.
- The majority of respondents (69%) thought
that if two people from different religious backgrounds were found
guilty of the same crime they would both receive the same sentence.
- However, 54% thought that if a man and
a woman were found guilty of the same crime, the man would receive
a tougher sentence.
- Over three-quarters (77%) of respondents
thought the sentences handed down by the courts were too lenient.
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