Scotland's poorest people are still more likely to be victims of crime and police clear-up rates have not helped the country's worst hit areas, two new studies show.
An Edinburgh University study claims Scotland's criminal justice system inadvertently punishes poorer people and makes it difficult for them to escape hardship.
A separate study by the university also showed the recent fall in crime rates in this country has not benefitted areas with the most chronic rates of crime.
The first study, one of the largest studies of its kind carried out by the university, found people who live in extreme poverty are more likely to be both the victims and perpetrators of crime.
The findings from the Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime by the university's school of law and the second study from the same department are published in the latest edition of the Scottish Justice Matters journal.
The first found poorer young people who commit an offence are twice as likely to get in trouble with the police compared with better-off children who carry out the same crime.
Report author Professor Lesley McAra said: “Our findings highlight a very destructive dynamic - poverty increases the risks of violence.
"Contact with juvenile justice system increases the risks associated with poverty.
"As a result, contact with the very agencies meant to stop offending is inadvertently reproducing the conditions in which violence can flourish.”
The youth study found household poverty is identified as an exacerbating factor that increases the likelihood of young people offending.
They are also around five times more likely to be placed on statutory supervision than their well-off counterparts
Girls from poorer backgrounds are twice as likely as girls from more affluent households to be involved in violent crime, the authors say.
Living in poverty is a more significant factor in exposing people to crime than others such as truancy, substance abuse and poor parental supervision.
Researchers also found that a history of being in trouble with the police is the strongest predictor of whether a young person was not in education, employment or training by age 18.
The study tracked 4300 young people in Edinburgh since 1998 to better understand changes in their behaviour and lifestyles.
The second study suggests that victims experiencing the most crime continue to be within the most deprived communities.
Half of the communities with the highest crime rates are found in the top 20 per cent of areas with the highest levels of chronic health problems, the report shows.
A third of the communities with the highest rates of crime are in the top 20 per cent of areas with the highest levels of unemployment.
Lead researcher Professor Susan McVie said: “The findings are important as they suggest that crime tends to be highly concentrated amongst poor people and within poor neighbourhoods, and this has not changed despite crime being at its lowest level for decades.
"This raises important questions about whether inequality is being adequately tackled by the Scottish Government."
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