Homicide in Scotland 2021-22

Commentary

Victims of homicide

Tables 1, 2, 5; Charts 1, 2, 3

• The number of homicide victims has shown a downward trend since 2004-05. (Chart 1). In 2021-22, there were 53 victims of homicide, 6 fewer than in 2020-21. This is the lowest number since comparable records began in 1976.
• In 2021-22 there were 37 male victims, representing 70% of all homicide victims. Since 2020-21 the number of male victims decreased by 12 from 49 to 37, whilst the number of female victims increased by six from 10 to 16.
• Males are more likely to be victims of homicide than females, with an overall rate of 14 victims per million population in 2021-22. The equivalent rate for females was six victims per million population.

• Chart 2 shows the victimisation rate by age group and sex for homicides since 2012-13 (i.e. for the past 10 years – representing 613 victims). For most age groups, the victimisation rate is higher for males than for females, though rates were very similar for those aged between 0 and 15 years old. The victimisation rate for males peaks in the 25 to 34 years old and 35 to 44 years old age groups.
• The median age of a victim of homicide in 2021-22 was 42 years old, 8 years higher than in 2020-21 when the median age of a victim was 34 years old. Over the past 10 years the median age of a victim has ranged between 34 and 45 years old (Table 1).
• In 2021-22, 70% of homicides occurred within a residential location (dwelling and other residential), 25% in outdoor public places (street, footpath and open outdoor area) and 6% in indoor public places (Chart 3).
• Glasgow City has also witnessed a relatively larger fall in homicides than Scotland as a whole. Since 2012-13 the number of homicide victims in Glasgow has dropped by 47% from 19 to 10.
• In 2021-22, Glasgow City had the highest number of homicide victims (ten), followed by South Lanarkshire and West Lothian (both with five) (Table 2). In all 3 areas the share of national homicide victims was higher than their share of Scotland’s population in 2021^[1]. (19% versus 12% in Glasgow City, 9% versus 6% in South Lanarkshire and 9% versus 3% in West Lothian.) It is important to note however that victims may not necessarily reside in the local authority where the homicide took place.

Homicide cases

Table 1;

• A single case of homicide is counted for each crime involving Murder or Culpable homicide (common law), irrespective of the number of victims or accused. Whilst most recorded cases of homicide in these statistics have one victim and one accused, some cases can have multiple victims and (or) accused.
• The number of homicide cases recorded by the police in Scotland decreased by 7% (or 4 cases) between 2020-21 and 2021-22 from 56 to 52. This is the lowest number of recorded homicide cases since comparable data became available in 1976.

Homicide cases involving more than one victim are relatively rare, in 2021-22 there was one case with more than one victim (Table 1).