Recorded Crime in Scotland, 2021-2022

Annex 5: New crime grouping structure and next steps in the production of crime statistics

This annex provides information on the new crime grouping structure used for recorded crime statistics. This 2021-22 annual bulletin is the first to reflect the new structure, following consultation with users and after discussion and approval from the SCRB. It also provides information on next steps in the production of crime statistics.

The main changes which affect this year’s (2021-22) bulletin are as follows:

• a new set of crime and offence groups has been introduced, as presented in Table A below
• common assault has been reclassified to a crime rather than an offence
• Stalking has been reclassified to a crime rather than an offence

More detailed information on the changes which have been made to the grouping structure are listed below.

There are a number of changes which will impact the production of crime statistics going forward, as follows:

• common assault to be split into common assault with injury and common assault without injury, and new crime codes to be introduced to help identify police officer/staff victims of all types of assault. The timing for the introduction of these changes is to be confirmed, based on the roll out of Police Scotland’s new crime management system
• the Recorded Crime Monthly Official Statistics, which were introduced to inform users about the volume and type of crimes and offences recorded in Scotland during the pandemic, were discontinued following publication of the March 2022 bulletin in April 2022. They will be replaced with a quarterly release of National Statistics, which will present the latest rolling 12-month period. The first of these will be published in August 2022

Crime Grouping Structure

The new crime grouping structure (used for the first time in this bulletin) retains a similar number of groups to the previous structure, but provides more detail at the second level of disaggregation, with a ‘top-50’ category structure.

As before, we continue to include additional tables within the statistics which break down categories further for particular types of crimes where there is a known user interest. The new grouping structure is presented in Table A below.

It should be noted that the grouping of criminal acts is a purely statistical exercise that has no impact on how a case is investigated or prosecuted. The new groups are backdated within the statistics so that there is no discontinuity to the time series. As this is the first year of this change we are also publishing tables using the old groups in the 'Supporting documents' tables.

Several other statistical publications use the crime grouping structure. We will ensure that these products also make a smooth transition to the new groups, protecting time series analysis and keeping users informed via ScotStat.

Table A: Comparison between new and previous crime grouping structure

Previous Crime Groups

Non-sexual crimes of violence

Homicide etc. (incl. causing death by driving)

Attempted murder & serious assault

Robbery

Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018

Other violence

New Crime Groups

Non-sexual crimes of violence

Murder and culpable homicide

Death by dangerous driving

Serious assault and attempted murder

Common assault

Robbery

Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018

Other non-sexual violence

Previous Crime Groups

Sexual crimes

Rape & attempted rape

Sexual assault

Crimes associated with prostitution

Other sexual crimes

New Crime Groups

Sexual crimes

Rape & attempted rape

Sexual assault

Causing to view sexual activity or images

Communicating indecently

Threatening to or disclosing intimate images

Indecent photos of children

Crimes associated with prostitution

Other sexual crimes

Previous Crime Groups

Crimes of dishonesty

Housebreaking

Theft by opening a lockfast place (OLP)

Theft from a motor vehicle by OLP

Theft of a motor vehicle

Shoplifting

Other theft

Fraud

Other dishonesty

New Crime Groups

Crimes of dishonesty

Housebreaking

Theft by opening lockfast places

Theft from a Motor Vehicle

Theft of motor vehicle

Shoplifting

Other theft

Fraud

Other dishonesty

Previous Crime Groups

Fire-raising, vandalism etc.

Fire-raising

Vandalism etc.

New Crime Groups

Damage and reckless behaviour

Vandalism

Reckless conduct

Fire-raising

Previous Crime Groups

Other crimes

Crimes against public justice

Not used in other criminal activity

Used in other criminal activity

Drugs

Other

New Crime Groups

Crimes against society

Crimes against public justice

Handling offensive weapons

Weapons possession (not used)

Weapons possession (used)

Drugs – Supply

Drugs – Possession

Other crimes against society

Previous Crime Groups

Coronavirus restrictions

New Crime Groups

Coronavirus restrictions

Previous Offence Groups

Miscellaneous offences

Common assault

Breach of the peace etc.

Drunkenness and other disorderly conduct

Urinating etc.

Other

New Offence Groups

Antisocial offences

Threatening and abusive behaviour

Racially aggravated conduct

Drunkenness & other disorderly conduct

Urinating etc.

Miscellaneous offences

Community and public order offences

Environmental offences

Licensing offences

Wildlife offences

Other misc. offences

Previous Offence Groups

Motor vehicle offences

Dangerous and careless driving

Driving under the influence

Speeding

Unlawful use of vehicle

Vehicle defect offences

Seat belt offences

Mobile phone offences

Other

New Offence Groups

Road traffic offences

Dangerous & careless driving

Driving under the influence

Speeding

Unlawful use of motor vehicle

Vehicle defect offences

Seat belt offences

Mobile phone offences

Other road traffic offences

The User Guide provides a breakdown of all crime codes for the new crime grouping structure. The 'Supporting documents' Excel workbook contains two tables (Tables S1 and S2) showing the statistics (from 2012-13 to 2021-22) on crimes and offences calculated using the previous crime grouping structure.

Overview of Grouping changes

More detailed information on the changes which have been to the grouping structure are listed below.

Non-sexual crimes of violence

• Split Homicide etc. into two categories: Murder and culpable homicide, and Death by dangerous driving
• Reclassify Common assault as a crime, sitting as its own category within the Non-sexual crimes of violence group (in 2020-21 there were just over 52,000 common assaults)
• Reclassify Stalking as a crime, sitting within the Other non-sexual violence category of the Non-sexual crimes of violence group (in 2020-21 there were around 900 offences of stalking)
• Move Female genital mutilation from Non-sexual crimes of violence – Other non-sexual violence to Non-sexual crimes of violence – Serious assault and attempted murder

Sexual crimes

• Split Other sexual crimes into five categories:
  • Causing to view sexual activity or images
  • Communicating indecently
  • Threatening to or disclosing intimate images
  • Indecent photos of children
  • Other sexual crimes

Crimes of dishonesty

• No changes

Damage and reckless behaviour

• Change the name from Fire-raising, vandalism etc. to Damage and reckless behaviour
• Split Vandalism etc. into two categories: Vandalism and Reckless conduct

Crimes against society

• Change name from Other crimes to Crimes against society
• Split Drug crimes into two categories: Drugs – possession and Drugs – supply

Coronavirus Restrictions

• No changes

Offences

• Split the Miscellaneous offences group into two groups: Antisocial offences and Miscellaneous offences (multiple new categories)
• Remove Common assault and Stalking (reclassifying as Non-sexual crimes of violence)
• Change name from Motor vehicle offences to Road traffic offences
• Crime codes relating to the (mis)use of bikes moved from Miscellaneous offences to Road traffic offences. The User Guide provides more details on the crime codes affected

As noted above, these changes collectively resulted in a ‘Top 50’ category structure, compared to the previous ‘Top 35’.

For information on the impact of these changes, please see the Technical Report on statistical impact of changing to new groups section of the consultation report.