Comparing Crime Surveys Across the UK

The United Kingdom is covered by three separate crime surveys, the British Crime Survey (which covers England and Wales), the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey and the Northern Ireland Crime Survey.  Although these surveys share common origins and have many similarities they have differences which reflect the nature of criminal justice processes and policy interests within the separate jurisdictions.  This project delivered a report which identifies the differences between surveys, both in terms of criminal justice definitions and survey methodology.  The report highlights areas where differences may mean comparisons across the UK can not be reliably made, and suggests future research to evaluate the impact of such differences have on cross-national comparisons.  This report is available here.