Domestic abuse: statistics recorded by the police in Scotland, 2023 to 2024

Annex 5: Legislation

The Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 came into force on 1 April 2019 and created a new offence for circumstances where a person engages in a course of behaviour which is abusive towards their partner or ex-partner. A course of behaviour involves behaviour on at least two occasions. Prior to the 1 April 2019, any criminal act which formed part of a domestic abuse incident (such as a Common assault or Threatening or abusive behaviour) was included within the statistics under the relevant crime or offence. Where there is evidence of a course of behaviour, new crime codes of Domestic abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 (against a male or female victim) have been created. In general, existing common law and statutory offences will continue to be recorded where appropriate, in addition to the new crimes.

As well as common law, some of the main legislation applicable to domestic abuse is as follows:

• Family Law (Scotland) Act 2006 (Section 31 of this Act introduced the concept of “domestic interdicts” into the 1981 Act, which applies to unmarried cohabitants (either opposite-sex or same-sex). Domestic interdicts have much the same effect in relation to cohabitants as matrimonial interdicts have for married couples as is defined in section 10 of this Act, which amends section 14 of the 1981 Act to extend the scope of matrimonial interdicts to include not only a matrimonial home, but also any other home owned by the applicant, the applicant’s place of work and the school attended by any child in the applicant’s care)
• Protection from Abuse (Scotland) Act 2001
• Crime and Disorder Act 1998
• Protection from Harassment Act 1997
• Family Law Act 1996
• Matrimonial Homes (Family Protection) (Scotland) Act 1981