Recorded Crime in Scotland, 2005/06

1. Introduction

1.1 This bulletin presents statistics on crimes and offences recorded and cleared up by the eight Scottish police forces in 2005/06. It forms part of the Scottish Executive series of statistical bulletins on the criminal justice system. Statistics on crimes and offences recorded by the police provide a measure of the volume of crime with which the police are faced.

1.2 Data from 2004/05 onwards shows the impact of the implementation of the Scottish Crime Recording Standard ( SCRS), which was expected to increase the numbers of minor crimes recorded by the police, such as minor crimes of vandalism and minor thefts. However, it was expected that the SCRS would not have much impact on the figures for the more serious crimes such as serious assault, sexual assault, robbery or housebreaking.

Chart 1 Crimes and offences recorded by the police 1930 -1994 then 1995/96 - 2005/06