Statistics on crime in general

New * Police recorded crime increased by 5% between 2024-25 and 2025-26. The total number of crimes recorded by the police in Scotland in 2025-26 was 315,357. This was 16,246 crimes (or 5%) higher than the level recorded in 2024-25. The recording of crime is down 49% from its peak in 1991.

Chart 1 : Number of crimes recorded by the police, 2015-16 to 2025-26

Property and violent crime has fallen by 42% since 2008-09. Results from the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS) show that one-in-five (20.8%) adults were estimated to have experienced at least one crime in 2024-25. This included property crime (9.4% of adults), violent crime (2.5%) and for the second time fraud and computer misuse (11.5%). The latest findings show that the overall level of property and violent crime combined and the likelihood of being a victim of these crimes has fallen since 2008/09 but have been stable in recent years.

Chart 2: Estimated total crimes (in thousands) – by survey year

* New * Recorded violent crime increased in the most recent year. Non-sexual crimes of violence recorded by the police increased by 6%, from 71,170 in 2024-25 to 75,601 in 2025-26. Common assault (up 6%) made up the clear majority (83%) of all non-sexual crimes of violence recorded in 2025-26. However, the SCJS estimated no change in the volume of violent crime in the last year, with an estimate of 199,000 crimes in 2024-25. The level of violence detected by the survey is unchanged in recent years and remains 37% lower than 2008-09. It also showed that an estimated 30% of violent incidents in 2024-25 were reported to the police, down from a peak of 51% in 2010-11.

* New * Recorded sexual crimes increased in the most recent year. Sexual crimes increased by 10%, from 14,892 in 2024-25 to 16,430 in 2025-26. Sexual crimes have been increasing in the long term. Multiple factors lie behind the long-term increase in recorded sexual crime including for example - historical reporting, more online offending and the impact of new legislation. The latest available data from the SCJS, for 2018-20 (2018-19 & 2019-20 combined) estimated that 3.6% of adults experienced at least one serious sexual assault since the age of 16, unchanged from 2008-09.

Women more likely to experience partner abuse. The SCJS, for 2018-20, estimated that 3.2% of respondents had experienced partner abuse in the year prior to interview. A higher proportion of women than men experienced this, at 3.7% and 2.6% respectively.

* New * Increase in crime clear up rate. The clear up rate for all recorded crimes was 56.7% in 2025-26, up from 56.0% in 2024-25. Crimes against society (91.5%), non-sexual crimes of violence (68.5%) and sexual crimes (61.2%) continued to have higher clear up rates in 2025-26 than crimes of dishonesty (36.7%) and damage and reckless behaviour (32.5%).

Number of victims of homicide at the lowest level since 1976. There were 45 homicide victims recorded by the police in Scotland in 2024-25, a 21% decrease from 2023-24 and a 24% decrease from 2015-16.

Chart 3: Number of victims of homicide, 2015-16 to 2024-25.

* New * Increase in recorded domestic abuse incidents. There were 64,967 incidents of domestic abuse recorded by the police in 2024-25, an increase of 2% on 2023-24. There were 117 incidents of domestic abuse recorded by police in Scotland per 10,000 population in 2024-25. At local authority level, Dundee City (189), West Dunbartonshire (163) and West Lothian (145) recorded the highest incident rates per 10,000 population.

* New * Common assault was the most common domestic abuse aggravated crime in 2024-25. There were 39,711 domestic abuse aggravated crime and offences recorded by the police in 2024-25. The most common type of crime or offence was Common assault, accounting for 37%. This was followed by Threatening and abusive behaviour and Crimes against public justice, each accounting for 14% of domestic abuse aggravated crimes and offences.​​​​​​​