Domestic abuse: statistics recorded by the police in Scotland - 2013/14 and 2014/15

Annex 1: Data Sources and Definitions

Domestic Abuse

6.1. A statistical collection on domestic abuse (previously referred to as domestic violence) was introduced in 1999. The definition of domestic abuse used by Police Scotland and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) is:

'Any form of physical, sexual or mental and emotional abuse [that] might amount to criminal conduct and which takes place within the context of a relationship. The relationship will be between partners (married, cohabiting, civil partnership or otherwise) or ex-partners. The abuse can be committed in the home or elsewhere'.

Data Collection:

6.2. Detailed information on the collection of the data is included in Section 2 of this publication.

6.3. The main Scottish Government Statement of Administrative Sources covers all sources of administrative data used by Scottish Government statisticians. This statement can be found on the Scottish Government website at: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/About/StatementAdminSources.

A separate statement of administrative sources is available for police statistics via the following link:
http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Crime-Justice/AdminSourcesPolice.

Police Scotland Quarterly Management Information Reports:

6.4. Police Scotland publishes management information on the number of incidents of domestic abuse recorded by the police. This is presented within their Quarterly Management Information Reports, which are available from the 'Our Performance' section of Police Scotland's website:
http://www.scotland.police.uk/about-us/our-performance/.

6.5. These reports are produced to demonstrate Police Scotland's commitment to transparency (alongside other regular reporting activity to the Scottish Police Authority). The information within these reports is presented on a cumulative quarterly basis, with the first quarter of a reporting year containing 3 months of data (from April to June), the second containing 6 months of data (from April to September) etc. The reports are typically published within 2 months of the period to which they refer.

6.6. The Quarterly Management Information Reports make clear to users that the data they contain on incidents of domestic abuse is based on the Administrative Data available to Police Scotland at that time and not the Official Statistics. The annual Official Statistics published by the Scottish Government on domestic abuse are based on management information which has undergone further quality assurance work, including additional dialogue with Police Scotland, in line with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.

Data Definitions:

6.7. In one criminal incident, several crimes or offences may occur - e.g. a perpetrator may assault their spouse and damage their car in the process. In this example, crimes of vandalism and assaults would be recorded. Statistics in this bulletin either relate to the number of incidents recorded, or the number of incidents with at least one crime or offence committed.

Recording Crimes & Offences:

6.8. Contraventions of Scottish criminal law are divided for statistical purposes into crimes and offences. "Crime" is generally used for the more serious criminal acts; the less serious termed "offences", although the term "offence" may also be used in relation to serious breaches of criminal law. The distinction is made only for working purposes and the "seriousness" of the offence is generally related to the maximum sentence that can be imposed.

6.9. Given the issues outlined in Section 2.7, this bulletin is not able to split crimes and offences for each incident. Instead we can only state that at least one crime or offence has been recorded.