Homicide in Scotland, 2014-15

Background

The statistics used in this bulletin refer to cases recorded as homicide by Police Scotland, as at 31 March 2015. The bulletin includes all crimes of Murder and Culpable homicide (common law), with these two crimes collectively referred to as Homicide throughout the bulletin. The associated tables to this bulletin, allowing the recreation of all graphs presented here, can be downloaded from the Scottish Government website.

A Glossary in the annex provides a full list of key variables used throughout this bulletin and what they mean.

The statistics on homicides are used to inform National Outcome 9 - 'we live our lives safe from crime, disorder and danger' as well as The Strategy for Justice in Scotland. These statistics are also used by a wide range of stakeholders to monitor trends, for policy research and development, and for research purposes. The 'Homicide in Scotland' statistical bulletin forms part of a series of bulletins produced by the Scottish Government on the criminal justice system.

The bulletin excludes cases of Causing death by dangerous driving, Causing death by careless driving while under the influence of drink or drugs, Causing death by careless driving, Illegal driver involved in fatal accident and Corporate homicide.

The Scottish Government also publishes a bulletin on Recorded Crime in Scotland which contains data on the wider Homicide etc. category. This includes the crimes of Murder and Culpable homicide (common law) (as reported on in this Homicide Bulletin), as well as the crimes of Causing death by dangerous driving, Death by careless driving when under influence of drink or drugs, Causing death by careless driving, Illegal driver involved in fatal accident and Corporate homicide. The 2014-15 edition of the Recorded Crime in Scotland bulletin can be accessed here.

The data in this bulletin are collected separately from the data included in the Recorded Crime in Scotland bulletin. For the crimes of Murder and Culpable homicide (common law), data are extracted from police recording systems at a different time point and so there may be discrepancies in the information presented here and the Recorded Crime in Scotland bulletin. In this bulletin homicide cases are included against the year in which the crime that led to the homicide is first recorded by the police. This is not necessarily the year in which the victim dies, the date of the homicide, the year in which the accused is brought to trial for the crime, or the year in which the case is finally disposed of by the courts. This may lead to minor differences between the figures reported in Recorded Crime in Scotland bulletin and this bulletin, as well as those published by the police.