In 2024/25 the crime rate in Scotland was *** crimes per 10,000 people, one of the lowest crime rates recorded in this time period. After peaking at ***** in 2004/05, the crime rate in Scotland has fallen significantly, reaching a low in the 2021/22 reporting year.

Glasgow City's crime rate of *** crimes per 10,000 people was the highest of any region of Scotland in 2024/25. The rate for the whole of Scotland was *** per 10,000 people, which appears to be driven by low crime in places such as the Shetland Islands, with almost all Scottish cities reporting higher than average crime rates. In Dundee, the crime rate was *** crimes per 10,000 people, while in the Scottish capital, Edinburgh, the crime rate was *** per 10,000 population. Comparisons with the rest of the UK When compared with the rest of the United Kingdom, Scotland has experienced a noticeable decline in its overall crime rate. In 2008/09 for example, Scotland's crime rate was higher than that of England and Wales, as well as Northern Ireland, the other two jurisdictions in the UK. In 2022/23, however, Scotland's crime rate was the lowest in the UK, with the crime rate in England and Wales rising noticeably during the same period. Scotland's homicide rate has also fallen, from being the highest in the UK in 2002/03, to the lowest in 2022/23. What types of crime increased in recent years? The overall number of crimes recorded by the Scottish police since the mid 2010s has remained broadly stable, with ******* offences reported in 2024/25. Specific types of crime have, however, increased in recent times. In 2024/25, for example, there were ****** sexual crimes reported by the police, compared with ***** ten years earlier. As in the rest of the UK, shoplifting has increased rapidly since the COVID-19 pandemic, reaching a peak of ****** offences in the 2024/25 reporting year.

In 2024/25, there were 71,170 non-sexual violent crimes recorded by the police in Scotland. The number of violent crimes in Scotland has generally fallen throughout this period, from a peak of 92,266 in 2002/03 to a low of 61,913 in 2020/21.

In the 2024/25 reporting year, there were 52,406 crimes recorded in Glasgow City, the most of any local authority in Scotland. The Shetland Islands, by comparison, had just 414 crimes recorded in the same period.

There were 299,111 crimes recorded by the police in Scotland in 2024/25, a similar figure to the previous year, when there were 299,790 crimes reported. During this time period, there is a clear trend of falling crime, with 2004/05 having the highest number of crimes and 2021/22 the fewest.

Scotland's Health, Housing and Crime Statistics

Exploring Multifaceted Issues with Machine Learning

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About this dataset

This dataset of 60 Scottish statistical indicators offers the opportunity to explore open government data with machine learning, covering 7 categories – health, social care, housing and crime and justice. Drawn from a total of 6,976 “2011 data zones” in Scotland that provide a variety of information from 2015, it delves into the intricate details of local populations to reveal potential insights. With features on crucial measures such as travel times by car and public transport, chimney fires ratio and educational attainment scores - this dataset provides a rich source of reliable statistics for use in business analysis or policy making. Uncover trends through the exploration of Scottish socio-economic conditions at both an individual and communal scale!

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How to use the dataset

This dataset, entitled Scotland’s Health, Housing and Crime Statistics provides an integrated set of 60 Scottish statistical indicators from seven categories - health, social care, housing, and crime and justice - derived from a total of 6,976 “2011 data zones” in Scotland.

To assist you in exploring these data points we have provided a guide on how to approach and make effective use of the information available.

1. Read through the descriptions of each indicator carefully to understand what each measure is assessing. This will help you determine which indicators may be more relevant to your research topic or project objectives.

2. Consider the time period covered by the dataset – this gives you an indication as to how up-to-date or recent these measures are likely to be; it also provides context for interpreting their accuracy within a given frame of reference e.g., if the measures are captured across five years then they represent changes over time rather than snapshots in one particular year only).

3. Compare different indicators – look for correlations between variables that suggest either higher incidents or risk factors being related in some way or other; likewise bear any traditional assumptions associated with certain topics at bay as there may possibly exist divergent patterns in this analysis that challenge existing ideas about certain subject matter areas (this could offer significant insight into new insights for further research investigations).

4. Use visualisations when exploring your data points; graphical representations can often demonstrate patterns intuitively which helps paint a broader picture around key themes within your research question(s) that might explain causation issues such as root causes etc.. .

5. Explore regional differences too – breaking down aggregate measures into subcomponents like geography (e..g province/region/state level), gender etc., can provide potential areas where localised interventions can be implemented with greater focus moving forward according to differing needs arising across different places/groups with different characteristics associated on them (eag population health disparities exist). Furthermore when exploring regional differences you should also take temporal aspects into consideration e..g whether levels measured today vary significantly from comparable numbers observed during previous periods or vice versa)

Research Ideas

• Identifying correlations between different statistical indicators to develop an overall health report for each data zone in Scotland. By analyzing both health and housing indicators, a comprehensive view of the living conditions in each area can be obtained, providing the government with insights for appropriate policy interventions.
• Predictive modeling to analyze future crime trends based on existing crime data from various locations across Scotland. This could help governments plan better security measures and allocate resources more effectively in order to protect their population more efficiently.
• Extensive use of machine learning algorithms such as clustering and classification on this dataset could give insight into whether certain indicator values are predictors of other values or not, which could then be used directly by governments when making economic policies associated with these values (e.g., housing prices). Furthermore, a comparison between actual outcomes with those predicted by models based on the dataset could be done easily to adjust policies appropriately according to real-time findings if needed

Acknowledgements

If you use this data...

FBI National Incident-Based Reporting System (FBI NIBRS) crime data for Scotland County Sheriff's Office (County) in North Carolina, including incidents, statistics, demographics, and detailed incident information.

FBI National Incident-Based Reporting System (FBI NIBRS) crime data for Scotland Neck Police Department (City) in North Carolina, including incidents, statistics, demographics, and detailed incident information.

The 694 data zones in Glasgow ranked in 2012, 2009, and 2006 for the crime domain in the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD). Each data zone also has a local ranking i.e. within Glasgow to ease comparison for that data zone over time and within the city. Intermediate Geographies and political geographies such as the 2011 Scottish Parliamentary Constituencies, multi-member wards are also included. Datazones nest directly into intermediate geographies and local authorities but do not fit exactly into higher geographies like multi-member wards, SIMD FAQ The Scottish Government describes this index as follows, 'The Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation identifies small area concentrations of multiple deprivation across all of Scotland in a consistent way. It allows effective targeting of policies and funding where the aim is to wholly or partly tackle or take account of area concentrations of multiple deprivation. The SIMD ranks small areas (called data zones) from most deprived (ranked 1) to least deprived (ranked 6,505). People using the SIMD will often focus on the data zones below a certain rank, for example, the 5%, 10%, 15% or 20% most deprived data zones in Scotland.' How to use the SIMD - Scottish Government Guidance Data extracted 2013-12-17 from opendatascotland.org and data.glasgow.gov.uk Data supplied by The Scottish Government Licence: None simd-crime-2006-2012-glasgow-v2.xlsx - https://dataservices.open.glasgow.gov.uk/Download/Organisation/728522f0-86da-48c6-8f75-1649934eb8a4/Dataset/e021aa52-e858-4770-bd2b-733a9c53d84d/File/56b9ecbd-340b-4f6c-8c26-adfd0205c04e/Version/8d4fa076-3db5-4c40-ab0a-531ba242aeb0

The Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS) is a social survey which asks people about their experiences and perceptions of crime in Scotland. The survey is an important resource for both the government and public of Scotland. Respondents are selected at random from the Postal Address File and participation in the survey is entirely voluntary. The main aims of the SCJS are to:provide reliable statistics on people's experience of crime in Scotland, including services provided to victims of crimeassess the varying risk of crime for different groups of people in the populationexamine trends in the level and nature of crime in Scotland over timecollect information about people's experiences of, and attitudes on a range of crime and justice related issuesAn important role of the SCJS is to provide an alternative and complementary measure of crime to police recorded crime statistics. For further details of the scope and methodology of the SCJS, please see documentation. Information about the survey and links to publications may be found on the Scottish Government's Scottish Crime and Justice Survey webpages.

Background and history of the SCJSPrevious surveys of victimisation in Scotland began with the Scottish components of the 1982 and 1988 sweeps of the British Crime Survey (BCS) (held at the Archive under SNs 4368 and 4599) The Scottish element of the 1988 BCS was also known as the Scottish Areas Crime Survey and coverage was limited in those early surveys to the areas south of the Caledonian Canal. From 2012, the BCS has been renamed the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) (held under GN 33174). The first independent Scotland-only crime survey was commissioned by the Scottish Office in 1993 under the title of the Scottish Crime Survey (SCS) and was followed by repeated sweeps in 1996 (both years held together under SN 3813), and again in 2000 (SN 4542) and 2003 (SN 5756). In 2004 the survey underwent both a name change, to the Scottish Crime and Victimisation Survey (SCVS) (SN 5757), and a major methodological change, with a move away from in-home face-to-face interviewing to telephone interviewing. However, the 2006 SCVS (SN 5784) returned to face-to-face interviewing after it was shown that the robustness of the data produced by the 2004 telephone survey could not be substantiated. From 2008-2009, the series name was changed to the present title, the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey, and it moved to a repeated annual cross-sectional schedule based on financial year. From 2012-13 the SCJS moved from annual to biennial survey covering the financial year however, the 2014-15 survey was the last biennial survey and currently the SCJS is conducted on an annual basis. See the documentation for further details.

Special Licence dataFrom 2012-2013 only the Main Questionnaire data are available under standard End User Licence (EUL) agreement. The Victim Form and Self-Completion data are available under Special Licence (SL). The SL data have more restrictive access conditions than those made available under the standard EUL. Prospective users of the SL version will need to complete an extra application form and demonstrate to the data owners exactly why they need access to the additional variables in order to get permission to use that version.

The Scottish Crime and Justice Survey, 2018-2020 Special Licence Access Self-Completion Data contains data from the self-completion questionnaire only. A total of 9,597 respondents taking part in the 2018/19 and 2019/20 SCJS agreed to answer the self-completion section. The Main Questionnaire data (Non-Victim Form) and all documentation for the SCJS 2018-19 and 2019-2020 are available under SNs 8795 and 8799 respectively.

Illicit drug useStalking and harassmentPartner abuseSexual victimisation

In the 2024/25 reporting year there were 299,111 crimes recorded by the police in Scotland, with 111,054 of these crimes categorized as crimes of dishonesty, the most common crime type in this year.

The Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS) is a social survey which asks people about their experiences and perceptions of crime in Scotland. The survey is an important resource for both the government and public of Scotland. Respondents are selected at random from the Postal Address File and participation in the survey is entirely voluntary. The main aims of the SCJS are to:

• provide reliable statistics on people's experience of crime in Scotland, including services provided to victims of crime
• assess the varying risk of crime for different groups of people in the population
• examine trends in the level and nature of crime in Scotland over time
• collect information about people's experiences of, and attitudes on a range of crime and justice related issues

An important role of the SCJS is to provide an alternative and complementary measure of crime to police recorded crime statistics. For further details of the scope and methodology of the SCJS, please see documentation. Information about the survey and links to publications may be found on the Scottish Government's Scottish Crime and Justice Survey webpages.

Background and history of the SCJS
Previous surveys of victimisation in Scotland began with the Scottish components of the 1982 and 1988 sweeps of the British Crime Survey (BCS) (held at the Archive under SNs 4368 and 4599) The Scottish element of the 1988 BCS was also known as the Scottish Areas Crime Survey and coverage was limited in those early surveys to the areas south of the Caledonian Canal. From 2012, the BCS has been renamed the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) (held under GN 33174).

The first independent Scotland-only crime survey was commissioned by the Scottish Office in 1993 under the title of the Scottish Crime Survey (SCS) and was followed by repeated sweeps in 1996 (both years held together under SN 3813), and again in 2000 (SN 4542) and 2003 (SN 5756). In 2004 the survey underwent both a name change, to the Scottish Crime and Victimisation Survey (SCVS) (SN 5757), and a major methodological change, with a move away from in-home face-to-face interviewing to telephone interviewing. However, the 2006 SCVS (SN 5784) returned to face-to-face interviewing after it was shown that the robustness of the data produced by the 2004 telephone survey could not be substantiated. From 2008-2009, the series name was changed to the present title, the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey, and it moved to a repeated annual cross-sectional schedule based on financial year. From 2012-13 the SCJS moved from annual to biennial survey covering the financial year however, the 2014-15 survey was the last biennial survey and currently the SCJS is conducted on an annual basis. See the documentation for further details.

Special Licence data
From 2012-13 only the Main Questionnaire data are available under standard End User Licence (EUL) agreement. The Victim Form and Self-Completion data are available under Special Licence (SL). The SL data have more restrictive access conditions than those made available under the standard EUL. Prospective users of the SL version will need to complete an extra application form and demonstrate to the data owners exactly why they need access to the additional variables in order to get permission to use that version.

The Scottish Crime and Justice Survey, 2021-2022 contains data from the SCJS Main Questionnaire only and is based on 5,516 face-to-face interviews with adults (aged 16 or over) living in private households in Scotland. The Victim Form questionnaire dataset is not included in this study.

Documentation

Users should note that the User Guide document was written to accompany the 2008/09 study, but the depositor advises that it is the latest version available and should be included here.

Statistical bulletin providing a detailed overview of Scottish fire statistics over the past decade, at a brigade and Scotland level. Source agency: Scottish Government Designation: National Statistics Language: English Alternative title: Scottish Crime and Justice Survey

In 2024/25, there were ***** hate crime charges reported to the prosecution service in Scotland, compared with ***** in the previous year.

The crime rate in the United Kingdom was highest in England and Wales in 2024/25, at **** crimes per 1,000 people, compared with Scotland, which had **** crimes per 1,000 population, and Northern Ireland, at **** crimes per 1,000 people in 2023/24. During this time period, the crime rate of England and Wales has usually been the highest in the UK, while Scotland's crime rate has declined the most, falling from **** crimes per 1,000 people in 2002/03, to just **** by 2021/22. Overall crime on the rise In 2024/25, there were approximately **** million crimes recorded by the police in England and Wales. Although this was a slight decline on the previous two years, it was still far higher than during the mid-2010s. While crime declined quite significantly between 2002/03 and 2013/14, this trend went into reverse in subsequent years. While there are no easy explanations for the recent uptick in crime, it is possible that reduced government spending on the police service was at least partly to blame. In 2009/10, for example, government spending on the police stood at around **** billion pounds, with this cut to *****billion in 2013/14. One of the most visible consequences of these cuts was a sharp reduction in the number of police officers in the UK. Between 2010 and 2017, the number of officers fell by 20,000, although the number of officers returned to pre-austerity levels by the 2020s. A creaking justice system During the period of austerity, the Ministry of Justice as a whole saw its budget sharply decline, from *** billion pounds in 2009/10 to just **** billion by 2015/16. Although there has been a reversal of the cuts to budgets and personnel in the justice system, the COVID-19 pandemic hit the depleted service hard in 2020. A backlog of cases grew rapidly, putting a strain on the ability of the justice system to process cases quickly. In 2022, for example, it took on average *** days for a crown court case to go from offence to conclusion, compared with *** days in 2018. There is also the issue of overcrowding in prisons, with the number of prisoners in England and Wales dangerously close to operational capacity in recent years.

In 2024/25, there were ***** sexual orientation hate crime charges reported to the prosecution service in Scotland, one of the highest numbers of hate crime charges of this type during the provided time period.