Crime And Punishment Poll

Public Sector

Q1 To what extent are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the way your area is policed?

16 July 2000

Crime, Justice, Police

MORI Telephone Surveys interviewed 1,003 British adults aged 18+
Interviews were conducted by telephone on 12-14 July 2000
Results are based on all respondents unless stated
Data are weighted to the known population profile
An '*' indicates a finding of less than 0.5%, but greater than zero
Poll conducted by MORI on behalf of The Mail on Sunday

Q1 To what extent are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the way your area is policed?

	%
Very satisfied	6
Fairly satisfied	46
Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied	13
Fairly dissatisfied	21
Very dissatisfied	12
Don't know	2

Q2 To what extent would you say your concern about crime has increased or decreased in the past few years?

	%
Increased a lot	44
Increased a little	27
Stayed the same	21
Decreased a little	5
Decreased a lot	2
Don't know	1

Q3 Which political party do you think has the best policies on law and order?

	All	Con voters	Lab voters	Lib Dem voters
	%	%	%	%
Conservative	19	50	7	7
Labour	20	2	44	12
Lib Dem	4	1	3	21
Welsh/Scot Nat	0	0	0	0
Green Party	0	0	0	0
Democratic Party	0	0	0	0
UK Independence Party	0	0	0	0
Referendum Party	*	0	0	0
Other	3	3	2	3
None	22	16	18	19
Don't know	31	27	25	38

Q4-6 I am going to read out a number of different statements about the police. For each, please tell me whether you agree or disagree.

	Agree	Disagree	Don't know
	%	%	%
Q4 The police spend too much time on paperwork	76	11	13
Q5 The police spend too much time being politically correct	50	35	15
Q6 The police spend too much time prosecuting motorists	58	33	9

Q7 I am going to read out a number of different types of crime. Which, if any, of these crimes have you personally been a victim of in the last 12 months.

Q8 And which of these was the most recent?Base: All who have experienced more than one crime (75)

	Q7	Q8
	%	%
Burglary	5	11
Theft (including theft of car contents or possessions at work)	14	30
Stolen car	4	9
Mugging/Assault	2	9
Threatening or abusive behaviour	13	34
Other	2	6
None of these	70

Q9 And thinking about the most recent crime you experienced, did you report it to the police or not?Base: All who have been a victim of crime (306)

	%
Yes, reported to the police	68
No, did not report to the police	32
Don't know/cannot remember	0

Q10 And why did you not report the crime to the police?Base: All who did not report crime to the police (98)

	%
Crime too trivial	32
Police would not do anything about it/much	34
Could not be bothered/Not worth the effort	19
Criminals would probably not get caught anyway	6
Don't want to cause trouble/fuss	1
Have reported other crimes and nothing was done	4
Plan to report crime in the near future	0
Crown Prosecution Service wouldn't do anything/much	1
Don't trust the police/don't like dealing with the police	1
Fear that the people who committed the crime might retaliate/might 'get back' at me	3
Don't know all the facts/don't know exactly what happened	0
Fear that other people in the neighbourhood might threaten/'get back' at me	1
None of my business	1
Other	20
Don't know/No reason	4

Q11 As far as you know, did the Police catch the person responsible for the crime?Base: All who have been a victim of crime (306)

	%
Yes	15
No	79
Don't know/Can't remember	6

Q12 How would you describe the punishment that person received?Base: All who know Police caught the person responsible (47)

	%
Too severe	0
About right	24
Or not severe enough	33
Wasn't punished	27
Don't know	16

Q13 If you were a victim of violent crime, such as mugging or assault, how confident would you be that the police would catch the person responsible for the crime?

	%
Very confident	3
Fairly confident	29
Not very confident	46
Not at all confident	20
Don't know	2

Q14 I am going to read out some different suggestions for ways in which crime levels can be reduced in Britain. Which two or three, if any, do you think would do most to reduce the level of crime in Britain?

	%
More police on the beat	54
Introduce a national identity card	31
Fine parents for their children's offences	27
Speed up court proceedings	27
Tougher institutions for younger offenders	25
Capital punishment for murder	25
Make prison sentences longer	18
Genetic fingerprinting of all citizens	17
Improve the Crown Prosecution Service	15
Imprison more offenders	6
More vigilante groups	1
Other	4
None of these	1
Don't know	2

Now I would like you to tell me to what extent you agree or disagree with the following statements.

Q15 Muggings, criminal damage and car thefts would decrease if the police had a stronger presence on the streets

	%
Agree	93
Disagree	5
Don't know	2

Q16 The law, as it stands at the moment, works to the advantage of the criminal and not victims

	%
Agree	71
Disagree	21
Don't know	8

Q17 Prison works: the more prisons the better

	%
Agree	33
Disagree	56
Don't know	11

Q18 Sometimes vigilantism is the best way of sorting out criminals (By vigilantism, I mean people who take the law into their own hands by threatening or retaliating against people they think have committed crimes)

	%
Agree	19
Disagree	77
Don't know	4

Q19 Who, if anyone, do you think is most to blame for the recent rise in crime?

	%
The Police	4
The Courts	2
The Government	15
Parents	15
Young people	7
Television/The media	3
Schools	2
Other	32
Don't know	20

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