Fall in coronavirus-related offences sees overall recorded crime figures drop

There was a five per cent fall in police recorded crime overall for the year ending June 2022, compared with the same period last year.

This has primarily been driven by a reduction in coronavirus-related crimes, said the Scottish government.

However, it adds that the latest National Statistics: Recorded Crime in Scotland bulletin, which now covers the previous four years, shows that recorded crime is five per cent lower than before the pandemic in the year ending June 2018 and has fallen by a total of 43 per cent since 2006/07.

Non-sexual crimes of violence were nine per cent higher compared with the year ending June 2021, while sexual crimes were seven per cent higher than the previous year. Crimes of dishonesty were up by nine per cent.

Anti-social offences were two per cent lower than the previous year and 14 per cent lower compared with the year before June 2018.

Justice Secretary Keith Brown said: “We know that Scotland continues to be a safe place to live, where the vast majority of people do not experience crime.

“The latest figures today show recorded crime is at the lowest level seen since 1974, and down 43 per cent since 2006/07. This is welcome as it means that every year there are thousands fewer victims in Scotland than there were 15 years ago.

“But there is more to be done. Continuing to reduce crime and the harm it causes both individuals and our society as a whole is central to our ambitious vision to reform our justice system.”

He added: “Where crime does occur we have made £48 million available to organisations that support victims over the next three years, a move that underlines our absolute commitment to putting victims very firmly at the centre of the justice system.

“We have invested over £24 million to specifically target violence reduction since 2008 and will highlight our priorities to tackle violence when we publish the first ever national Violence Prevention Framework later this year.

“While the police cleared up more sexual crimes in 2021-22 than ever before, like many other countries Scotland continues to see growth in reported cases.

“Multiple factors lie behind the increase including a greater willingness of victims to come forward, more historical reporting, more online offending and the impact of new legislation.

“We also remain absolutely committed to supporting our hard working police officers as recruitment bounces back from the Covid period and the necessary closure of the Tulliallan training college to ensure the safe policing of the COP26 climate summit.”

The overall reduction in recorded crime is reflected in the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey for 2019/20, published March 2021, which shows that one in eight (11.9 per cent) of adults were victims of crime in 2019/20 – significantly less than the one in five who were victims of crime for the period 2008/09 (20.4 per cent).

The survey also shows that people living in Scotland are less likely to be victims of crime than in England and Wales, where 13.3 per cent of adults were victims of crime in 2019/20. Over the same period, from 2008/09 to 2019/20, the proportion of adults in Scotland who felt safe walking alone after dark in their local area increased from 66 per cent to 77 per cent.