Scotland sees slight rise in recorded crime

Humza Yousaf

There were 244,504 crimes recorded by the police in Scotland in 2017-18. This is the second lowest level of recorded crime since 1974.

Between 2016-17 and 2017-18, the number of crimes recorded by the police increased by one per cent - excluding those additional crimes of handling an offensive weapon, which were only recorded from 2017-18 onwards.

The number of Non-sexual crimes of violence recorded by the police increased by one per cent from 7,164 in 2016-17 to 7,251 in 2017-18. The recording of these crimes remains at a lower level than all years between 1975 and 2012-13.

Sexual crimes increased by 13 per cent from 11,092 in 2016-17 to 12,487 in 2017-18. Following the enactment of the Abusive Behaviour and Sexual Harm (Scotland) Act 2016 on 3rd July 2017, part of this increase includes 421 new crimes of disclosing or threatening to disclose an intimate image. The recording of these crimes is at the highest level seen since 1971, the first year for which comparable crime groups are available.

Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf said: “Scotland’s streets are now safer and less violent than they were a decade ago.

“This is due in no small part to the pioneering work across the justice system, NHS, schools and other partners to prevent crime at its source. It was also this government which took action to introduce tougher penalties for knife crime.

“Our approach to tacking violence in our communities is now held up as a model for the rest of the world, with London introducing a Violence Reduction Unit based on the success of the Scottish public health approach.

“While any small rise in crime is disappointing, we remain focused with the police and other partners on keeping crime at historically low levels. That is why we’ve commissioned in-depth research into different aspects of violent crime - such as this robbery analysis - to help us better understand where crime is happening, why it is happening and who it is happening to.

“It is also why we have set up an expert group looking at new action to prevent sexual crime, of which we know increases are being driven by a growth in online crime, greater confidence in reporting and a long-term rise in historical cases.”