Recorded Crime in Scotland, 2011-12

1. Introduction

1.1 This bulletin presents statistics on crimes and offences recorded and cleared up by the eight Scottish police forces in 2011-12. It forms part of the Scottish Government series of statistical bulletins on the criminal justice system. Statistics on crimes and offences recorded by the police provide a measure of the volume of crime with which the police are faced.

1.2 The statistics on crimes and offences are used to inform National Outcome 9 - 'we live our lives safe from crime, disorder and danger'. The statistics are also used by a wide variety of users and stakeholders to monitor trends, for policy research and development, and for research purposes.

1.3 Crimes recorded by the police in Scotland decreased from 323,247 in 2010-11 to 314,186 in 2011-12, a decrease of 3%. The number of offences increased by 3%, from 530,249 in 2010-11 to 544,033 in 2011-12.

Chart 1: Crimes and offences recorded by the police, 1970 to 1994 then 1995-96 to 2011-12