By Professor John Robertson

From the Scottish Government today:

• Crimes recorded by the police in Scotland increased by 4%, from 289,362 to 299,780. The recording of crime remains below the position immediately prior to the pandemic (2019-20) and down 51% from its peak in 1991.
• Non-sexual crimes of violence increased by 4%, from 68,870 to 71,463. Common assault (up 3%) makes up the clear majority (83%) of all non-sexual crimes of violence recorded in 2023-24.
• Sexual crimes decreased by 1%, from 14,602 to 14,484. These crimes are now at the third highest level seen since 1971, the first year for which comparable groups are available.
• Crimes of dishonesty increased by 7%, from 103,393 to 111,054. The recording of these crimes is back to the level seen immediately prior to the pandemic (in 2019-20) and down 74% from the peak in 1991.
• Damage and reckless behaviour crimes decreased by 5%, from 43,123 to 41,129. The recording of these crimes is now at the lowest level seen since 1976.
• Crimes against society increased by 4% from 59,374 to 61,650. Most of these crimes relate to crimes against public justice (41%) or drug possession (34%).

Crime figures based only on police reporting do understate the actual level of crime and so we need to find out what people will report to independent researchers about their own experience of crime in their communities.

The Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS) is based on 5 600 face-to-face interviews. This is a very large sample, scientifically constructed to represent all social groups. Compared with opinion polls with samples of around 1 000, this method is gold-standard for validity and reliability.

It found an estimated 494,000 crimes in 2021/22 [Down 53% since 2008/9] , of which 360,000 (73%) were property crimes and 133,000 (27%) were violent crimes. Since 2008/09 property crime has halved (down 51%) whilst violent crime has fallen by 58% over the same time period.

England?

Sources:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/recorded-crime-scotland-2023-24/pages/2/

https://www.gov.scot/news/scottish-crime-justice-survey/

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1030625/crime-rate-uk/#:~:text=The%20crime%20rate%20in%20the,it%20increased%20slightly%20to%2052.8.