CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS IN SCOTLAND 2014-15

5. People convicted by crime group

(Tables 4a and 4b)

By crime group: Non-sexual crimes of violence

Non-sexual crimes of violence include the crimes of homicide, attempted murder & serious assault, robbery and other violent crime (see Annex D for a full listing). Convictions for these types of crimes have declined by almost a third since 2010-11, having fluctuated at around 2,550 per year before that (from 2005-06 onwards). In 2014-15 there was a fall of 4 per cent to 1,718 convictions compared to 2013-14. Within the total, in the year to 2014-15, there were decreases for:

• Homicide, down 12 per cent from 91 convictions in 2013-14 to 80;
• Robbery, down 15 per cent from 442 convictions in 2013-14 to 377.

The number of convictions for “serious assault & attempted murder” and “other violent” crimes remained static at 1,037 and 224 convictions respectively.

By crime group: Sexual crimes

There was an overall increase of 8 per cent in convictions for sexual crimes from 1,057 in 2013-14 to 1,145 in 2014-15. This is the fourth consecutive annual increase and in part reflects an increased level of reporting in the wake of high profile cases. Increases were seen for the following subgroups as follows:

• Convictions for rape and attempted rape saw a 40 per cent increase (89 in 2013-14 to 125 in 2014-15);
• Convictions for sexual assault saw a 16 per cent increase (236 in 2013-14 to 273 in 2014-15); and
• Convictions for “other sexual crimes” saw a 7 per cent increase (563 in 2013-14 to 602 in 2014-15).

By contrast there was a drop in the number of convictions for offences related to prostitution with a 14 per cent decrease (169 in 2013-14 to 145 in 2014-15), following an increase of 19 per cent the previous year. It should be noted that convictions for these types of crimes tend to fluctuate year on year.

By crime group: Crimes of dishonesty and “other crimes”

As a proportion of all crimes, convictions for crimes of dishonesty (which is mainly shoplifting and theft) accounted for over a third (34 per cent) of all convictions in 2014-15. As shown in chart 6 convictions for these types of crimes have steadily declined in the last ten years down from 17,997 in 2005-06 to 12,512 convictions in 2014-15 (a drop of 30 per cent).

Chart 6: Convictions for Crimes of Dishonesty

Overall convictions for crimes of dishonesty remained relatively static in 2014-15 at 12,512. Changes for specific crime types are as follows:

• A decrease of 5 per cent in the number of convictions for housebreaking from 1,037 in 2013-14 to 980 in 2014-15;
• An increase in the number of theft of a motor vehicle convictions by 18 per cent from 270 in 2013-14 to 318 in 2014-15; and
• An increase in the number of shoplifting convictions by 6 per cent from 6,530 in 2013-14 to 6,940 in 2014-15.