Keith Brown

Sexual crimes, meanwhile, decreased by two per cent from 13,364 to 13,131, new figures show.

Between 2019-20 and 2020-21 recorded crime fell in three other areas:

• non-sexual crimes of violence decreased by four per cent, from 9,316 to 8,972. This includes the recording of 1,641 crimes under the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 in 2020-21, the second year this legislation has been in place
• crimes of dishonesty decreased by 19 per cent, from 111,409 to 89,731, the lowest level since 1971
• fire-raising and vandalism decreased by 10 per cent from 47,731 to 42,964. The recording of these crimes is at the lowest level seen since 1975

Justice Secretary Keith Brown said: “By all main measures crime, including violent crime, is now considerably lower than it was a decade ago, with fewer victims.

“These statistics show how crime in areas like vandalism and dishonesty, the sorts of crime that affects peoples’ everyday lives, has fallen – with levels not seen since the 1970s.

“There is still work to be done as the figures on cybercrime show – which is why we have this year published a prevention, awareness and enforcement strategy to make Scotland an inhospitable place for scammers.

“And while Covid-19 has no doubt had an impact on the figures, recorded crime was on a downward trend beforehand and through the measures we recently announced in our Programme for Government – we will continue to make Scotland a safe place to live.”

“It sets out how we intend to transform the way in which justice services are delivered, moving away from the use of custody for those who don’t pose a risk of serious harm, while protecting the police resource budget in real terms for the entirety of the Parliament.

“Overall, these very positive trends are testimony not just to the hard work of Police Scotland but to the vital support the Scottish Government has put in place to enable officers to do their jobs effectively.”