Violence prevention framework for Scotland: annual progress report 2023 to 2024

Introduction

Implementation of the Violence Prevention Framework supports our commitment set out in the Programme for Government to support everyone to feel safe in their communities. It also aligns with the three-year delivery plan for the Vision for Justice in Scotland.^[2]

The Framework’s ‘public health’ approach to preventing violence is a continuation of the general approach taken by the Scottish Government and its partners for over a decade. This seeks to tackle the underlying causes of violence to prevent it from happening in the first place and, where it does occur, to reduce its harms. The Framework has four main aims:

• ‘We are all safe, and feel safe, in our communities’
• ‘Our communities are stronger and more resilient’
• ‘Our relationships are healthier and more respectful’
• ‘People at risk of experiencing violence receive support to live healthier more productive lives’.

As well as highlighting the work already being undertaken across the Scottish Government, the Framework also includes 14 priority actions being taken forward under each aim, by our partners (the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit (SVRU), Medics Against Violence (MAV), YouthLink Scotland’s No Knives, Better Lives (NKBL), Police Scotland Youth Volunteers (PSYV) and Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP)). This progress report looks at what has been achieved in the first year of the Framework and looks ahead to some of the activity planned for this financial year.

As part of implementation of the Framework, we committed to developing a Measurement Framework which will monitor high-level progress towards the Framework’s vision over the long-term. This will be published following publication of the findings from the 2023/24 Scottish Crime and Justice Survey in 2025, thereby aligning it with the very latest national data available on violence victimisation. A summary of the latest data on non-sexual violence is included below.

We will provide a Progress Report for each of the three years of its implementation to highlight ongoing developments and take account of new emerging evidence and responding to the trends over time to tackle violence.

We are all safe, and feel safe, in our communities

How has non-sexual violence changed in Scotland?

• The Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS) estimates there has been a 58% reduction in the volume of violent crimes from 2008-09 to 2021-22.

  

• Less than 1 in every 100 adults were victims of repeated incidents of violence.

  However, the experiences of these people accounted for almost two-thirds (or 63%) of violent crime in 2021-22.

• The number of crimes of serious assault and attempted murder recorded by the police has fallen by 47% from 2008-09 to 2023-24.

  6,472 In 2008-09

  3,457 In 2023-24

• The homicide rate in Scotland has halved since 2008-09. The three year moving average reduced from 21.5 victims per million population in the three years ending 2008-09 to 10.0 in the three years ending 2022-23.

  

• People worried about being physically assaulted or attacked in the street or other public place has fallen over time.

  Overall:

  31% In 2008-09

  17% In 2021-22

  However, differences between groups still remain. In 2021-22, young women aged 16-24 were around three times as likely to feel worried about being physically attacked as young men.

  Female, 16-24 29%

  Male, 16-24 10%

• People aged 16 to 24 have shown the largest decrease in victimisation rate of any age group since 2008-09.
• Hospital admissions due to assault from a sharp object have fallen by 71% from 2008-09 to 2022-23.

  

Sources: The Scottish Crime and Justice Survey, Recorded Crime in Scotland, 2023-24, Homicide in Scotland 2022-23, Unintentional Injuries – Hospital admissions year ending 31 March 2023