Almost £10million in compensation has been paid out to victims of violent criminals in north and north-east Scotland in the past two years.
Figures released under a Freedom of Information Act request showed that The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority awarded millions in compensation to people who were physically or mentally injured in assaults in the Grampian, Tayside and Northern police force areas during the period of April 2008 to March 2010:
– Victims in Grampian were paid £4,074,448.
– In Tayside victims got a total of £4,061,320.
– £1,863,488 went to those left injured by serious crimes in the Highlands.
Politicians have called for the Scottish Government to do more to stop violent assaults happening at the expense of the taxpayer. Richard Baker, North East Scotland MSP and Labour justice spokesman said that that there should be minimum jail sentences for anyone caught in possession of a knife.
He added that as well as knives, the second most frequently used weapons in Scotland were glass bottles, so the SNP also needed to look at ways of tackling alcohol-related violence.
He said he believed that there would be more compensation claims, often for significant trauma, in the future, which would be a drain on the public sector. The high figures showed a need to do more to tackle violent crimes.
Tayside Joint Police Board convener Ian Mackintosh agreed that a significant proportion of violent crimes committed in Dundee are carried out by people under the influence of alcohol. He said that compared to some Scottish cities, he thought that Dundee was relatively safe but that the police were working on preventing further crimes with frontline policing, and were trying to keep as many officers on the beat as possible.
Nigel Don, MSP for north-east Scotland and member of the Scottish Government’s justice committee, said the high amounts of compensation simply reflected the severity of the cases.
Among those people in receipt of compensation was a Chinese man who was subjected to a brutal racial attack in Aberdeen city centre. He was awarded £80,000 earlier this year. Terry Ho, 34, was left with brain damage resulting from an unprovoked assault in October 2003. He spent two weeks in a coma after the assault and has since returned to his native Hong Kong.
A spokesman for the Scottish Government said that despite high levels of compensation, crime levels in Scotland are falling.
