Recorded Crime in Scotland, 2011-12

2. Main points

• There has been a decrease in the number of crimes recorded in three of the five crime groups, with Non-sexual crimes of violence, Crimes of dishonesty and Vandalism (including Fire-raising and Malicious mischief) decreasing between 2010-11 and 2011-12 (Table 1).
• The number of Non-sexual crimes of violence recorded by the police decreased by 17% between 2010-11 and 2011-12, to a total of 9,533 (Table 1).
• The number of Sexual offences increased by 10% from 6,696 in 2010-11 to 7,359 in 2011-12 (Table 1). The implementation of the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009 on 1 December 2010, resulted in a redistribution of Group 2 crimes among the subcategories. Comparisons over time should therefore be treated with caution.
• The number of Crimes of dishonesty decreased by 1% to stand at 154,337 crimes in 2011-12 (Table 1).
• Recorded crimes of Vandalism (including Fire-raising and Malicious mischief) decreased by 8% to total 75,201 in 2011-12 (Table 1).
• In 2011-12, the police recorded 544,033 offences, an increase of 3% from the number of offences recorded in 2010-11. The increase in the number of offences was largely due to a substantial increase in the number of recorded Speeding offences (Table 2).
• The clear-up rate for all recorded crimes in 2011-12 was 49%. This figure has remained constant since 2008-09 (Table 3).
• The clear-up rate in 2011-12 for Non-sexual crimes of violence was higher than in 2010-11, increasing from 72% to 75%. The clear up rates for Sexual offences (67%) and for Miscellaneous offences (84%) increased by 1 percentage point each in 2011-12. The clear up rates for Crimes of dishonesty (37%), Vandalism (including Fire-raising and Malicious mischief) (25%) and Other crimes (98%) remained unchanged from 2010-11 (Table 3).
• Seven of the eight police forces showed a reduction in the number of crimes recorded in 2011-12 compared to 2010-11, the exception being Strathclyde Police where there was an increase of 1%. For Northern Constabulary the number of crimes recorded remained broadly the same as in 2010-11, the reduction being less than 1%. Among the other six police forces, the scale of reduction ranged from 4% for both Central Scotland Police and Lothian and Borders Police, to 16% for Tayside Police (Table 5).
• Although there was a 10% increase in the total number of Sexual offences recorded in Scotland in 2011-12, there were substantial differences between police forces. Increases ranged from 7% for Tayside to 52% for Dumfries and Galloway. But the actual numbers of Sexual offences recorded by Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary are relatively small with the increase being from 99 in 2010-11 to 150 in 2011-12. Decreases were recorded for Fife (12%) and Northern (14%). The figures for Grampian remained broadly the same in 2011-12 compared to 2010-11 (Table 5).