Domestic abuse recorded by the police in Scotland, 2020-21

Scotland’s Chief Statistician today released domestic abuse recorded by the police in Scotland, 2020-21.

The main findings include:

The police recorded 65,251 incidents of domestic abuse in 2020-21, an increase of 4% compared to the previous year. This is the fifth year in a row this figure has shown an increase.

In 2020-21, 40% of incidents of domestic abuse recorded by the police in Scotland included the recording of at least one crime or offence.

The type of crime or offence that was most frequently recorded as part of a domestic abuse incident in 2020-21 was Common assault, accounting for 32% of all crimes and offences recorded. This was followed by Breach of the peace etc. accounting for 23% of crimes and offences.

Following its enactment on 1 April 2019, crimes recorded under the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 accounted for 4% of crimes and offences recorded as part of a domestic abuse incident in 2020-21.

There were 119 incidents of domestic abuse recorded by the police in Scotland per 10,000 population in 2020-21. At a local authority level, Dundee City (177), West Dunbartonshire (168) and Clackmannanshire (158) recorded the highest incident rates per 10,000 population.

Where gender information was recorded, four-in-five incidents of domestic abuse (80%) in 2020-21 had a female victim and a male accused. This decreased slightly from 82% in 2019-20.

In 2020-21, the 31 to 35 years old age group had the highest incident rate for both victims (282 incidents recorded per 10,000 population) and for the accused (260 incidents recorded per 10,000 population).

Three-in-ten incidents (31%) occurred at the weekend in 2020-21. This is a slight decrease from 34% in 2019-20.

In 2020-21, Just over nine-in-ten (91%) of all domestic abuse incidents occurred in a home or dwelling.

Background

The full statistical publication can be accessed online.

Further Information on Crime and Justice statistics within Scotland can be accessed online.

Official statistics are produced by professionally independent statistical staff. Further information on the standards of official statistics in Scotland can be found online.