THE number of incidents of domestic abuse recorded by police has risen for the fifth consecutive year to another record high.
Police Scotland dealt with 65,251 incidents in 2020/21, a four per cent rise on the previous year, with 40% of those incidents including at least one crime or offence.
The most frequent crime was common assault, accounting for 32% of offences recorded, followed by breach of the peace, which accounted for 23% of crimes and offences.
Juts over nine-in-ten (91%) of all domestic abuse incidents occurred in a home or dwelling.
The Tories claimed the SNP Government’s “attitude of putting criminals ahead of the victim” had contributed to the upward trend in the figures.
Up 2,344 in a year, the number of incidents is the highest since the advent of devolution, and almost double the 33,187 incidents recorded in 1999/00.
However this also reflects a greater willingness by victims to come forward.
The reporting system changed in 2013/14, when Scotland’s eight regional police forces were merged into a single force.
Since 2014/15, when 59,882 incidents were recorded, the number has risen almost 9%.
Across Scotland, there were 119 incidents of domestic abuse per 10,000 population last year, however rates varied considerably between council areas.
The highest rate was recorded in Dundee City, with 177 incidents per 10,000 population, West Dunbartonshire (168) and Clackmannanshire (158).
The lowest rates were recorded in Na h-Eileanan Siar (48), Orkney Islands (51) and East Renfrewshire (56).
In 80% of all cases in 2020/21, incidents had a female victim and a male accused, where gender was recorded, slightly down on the 82% in 2019/20.
The highest incident rate last year was among the 31 to 35 years old age group, with 282 incidents per 10,000 population for victims 260 per 10,000 population for the accused.
Almost a third of incidents (31%) occurred at the weekend last year, compared to 34% in 2019/20.
Tory MSP Jamie Greene aid: “Domestic abuse is a stain on our society, and so it is absolutely shocking to see it increase for the fifth year in a row.
“The SNP Government’s attitude of putting criminals ahead of the victim has contributed to the year-upon-year rise in the number of domestic abuse incidents.
“Soft touch justice policies mean that domestic abusers are being spared prison, allowing them to continue to terrorise their victims. And those that go to prison are let out early, free to re-offend and cause further harm to victims.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel