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There has been an increase in the number of sexual crimes, including rape, reported to the police, according to a recent report from Police Scotland.
The report, which covers the period April 2013 to March 2014, revealed:
- An 11.8% increase in sexual crime
- The number of reported rapes rose by 23.2% to 1690
- Around 36% of reported rapes were historic cases
- Almost 25% of rape victims were under the age of 15
- There were 58,976 domestic abuse incidents reported
"The figures do not necessarily mean there are more of these types of crimes being committed,” explained Detective Superintendent Louise Raphael, lead officer for the National Rape Task Force. “For years there has been a significant issue with under-reporting, indicating a lack of confidence in the system and a fear about speaking out about such serious matters.”
"Our assessment is that people are becoming more confident in speaking out, often regarding incidents which happened some time prior to contact being made with the police or other organisations,” she added. “Changes to the legal definition of rape, the way we work with partners and improvements in the way we now investigate these crimes has influenced the number and type of cases we are seeing."
The report also reveals that overall crime figures appear to have dropped by almost 1%, with a slight increase of 0.2% in the detection rate. There was a drop in the number of crimes of violence, including attempted murder, serious and common assault and robbery. The number of reported domestic violence related crimes also fell slightly.
If you require specialist criminal defence advice on sexual offence charges or any other matter, give us a call on 01383 730466 (Dunfermline) or 01592 640680 (Kirkcaldy) or contact us online here.
