By Professor John Robertson OBA
From the Scottish Government’s Homicide in Scotland 2023-24 Statistical bulletin on crimes of homicide recorded by the police in Scotland in 2023-24, released yesterday, the above graph and:
The number of homicide victims has shown a downward trend since 2004-05. In 2023-24, there were 57 victims of homicide, five more than in 2022-23. Despite this increase, the number of homicide victims in 2023-24 was the third lowest since comparable records began in 1976 (and lower than all years from that point to 2020-21 inclusive).
In 2023-24, there were 44 male victims, representing 77% of all homicide victims. Since 2022-23, the number of male victims increased by five from 39 to 44, whilst the number of female victims remained constant at 13.
There has been a reduction in homicides over the last 20 years across all age groups under 65. The greatest reduction has been amongst victims aged 16-24. In the five year period from 2004-05 to 2008-09, there were 125 victims in this age range. This dropped to 29 across the latest five years period from 2019-20 to 2023-24.
Looking at the actual data we see that, in the first year of SNP administration, in 2007/2008, there were 115 homicides and 57 in the last year. One year variations are of little value but the long-term trend is steeply down by 50.4%.
For the group most at risk, males between 16 and 24, there were 106 in 2004/2009 and only 25 in 2014/2024. The trend is plummeting by 76.4%.
For women aged 16-24, in the same period, the level fell from 19 to 4, again plummeting by 78.9%.
How has BBC Scotland reported this to inform their often nervous elderly audience?
Homicides up 10% but still close to record low
and in tiny wee letters under the photo:
The number of homicide victims has decreased by 58% since 2004
‘Our’ newspapers? No a word. Not anywhere bad enough.
Source:
https://www.gov.scot/publications/homicide-scotland-2023-24/pages/main-findings/
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