There has been a fall in the overall number of crimes reported in Scotland in 2014/15, according to the latest Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS), which has been released by Scotland’s Chief Statistician.
The SCJS shows that the estimated number of crimes in 2014/15 (688,000) has fallen by 16% since the 815,000 crimes estimated in 2012/13, and by 34% since the 1,045,000 crimes estimated in 2008/09.
Almost three-quarters of crime (73%) was property crime, comprising:
- vandalism (26%),
- other household theft (including bicycle theft) (23%),
- personal theft (excluding robbery (15%)),
- motor vehicle theft related incidents (6%), and
- housebreaking (3%).
Just over a quarter of crime was violent crime (27%), comprising:
- minor assault with no / negligible injury (17%),
- minor assault with injury (4%),
- attempted assault (4%),
- serious assault (1%), and
- robbery (1%).
According to the figures, most adults (85.5%) experienced no crime in 2014/15. The SCJS estimates that around one in seven adults were the victim of crime in 2014/15, compared to around one in six adults in 2012/13, and one in five adults in 2008/09. In 2014/15, 13.0% of adults were estimated to have been a victim of property crime and 2.6% of adults a victim of violent crime.
Around one-in-ten adults experienced one crime in 2014/15, while 4.4% of adults were the victim of multiple crimes, experiencing almost three fifths of all SCJS crime (58%). Around 3.5% of adults were repeat victims of property crime, while 0.8% of adults were repeat victims of violent crime. Of those who were repeat victims of violent crime, most were repeat victims of minor assault (79%).
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