Scottish Crime and Justice Survey 2023/24: Main findings

Public perceptions of crime and safety

How did the public think the level of crime in their local area had changed in recent years?

Over two-thirds (71%) of adults in 2023/24 said that the crime rate in their local area had decreased or stayed the same over the last couple of years. This figure has fallen from 76% in 2021/22 and is at a similar level to 2008/09 and the pre-covid position in 2019/20, as shown in Figure 11.1.

Overall, the majority (64% of adults) believed that the crime rate in their local area had ‘stayed the same’, higher than the 60% in 2008/09 but lower than 68% in 2021/22. A quarter of adults (25%) thought the amount of crime in their local area had increased in the last two years, higher than in 2021/22 (20%), but at a similar level to the pre-covid position in 2019/20 (23%).

The proportion of adults saying the local crime rate had decreased or stayed the same varies across demographic groups – for instance:

• fewer females than males (67% compared to 74%)
• fewer adults with disabilities than without disabilities (64% compared to 73%)
• fewer adults living in the 15% most deprived areas than those living in the rest of Scotland (62% compared to 72%)
• fewer victims of property or violent crimes than those who were not victims of these crimes (58% compared to 72%)[1]

Further breakdowns for demographic groups are provided in Annex Table A17. It shows that while there were improvements between 2008/09 and 2021/22 for most groups, since 2021/22 all groups have either fallen or remained at a similar level, such that now all groups are at a similar level to 2008/09.

Figure 11.1: The proportion of adults who thought the crime rate in their local area had stayed the same or reduced over the last two years has fallen since 2021/22 to a similar level to 2019/20.

Proportion of adults holding views on changes in the local crime rate in the last two years, 2008/09 to 2023/24.

Variable: QS2AREA.

Whilst the SCJS is the preferred source for national results on perceptions of the local crime rate, this question is currently part of the Scottish Surveys Core Questions (SSCQ), which sees a selection of measures collected in the same way across the three large household surveys in Scotland - the Scottish Health Survey (SHeS), the Scottish Household Survey (SHS), and the SCJS. Results from the three surveys on the core questions are pooled together each year to offer a larger sample size, enabling more precise and granular breakdowns of results for equality groups and at local level. More on the SSCQ, including the latest results available on the local crime rate indicator from the three surveys combined, can be found on the SSCQ website.

How did views on local and national crime trends differ?

Around half of adults (48%) believed that crime had increased in Scotland overall in the last two years. This is higher than the quarter of adults (25%) who thought that crime in their local area had increased over the same period.[2] In other words, respondents were much less likely to say crime had been stable or fallen nationally (41%) than in their local area (71%).

Table 11.1: The proportion of adults who thought the national crime rate had stayed the same or reduced over the last two years has fallen to a similar level to 2008/09.

Public perceptions on how the national crime rate has changed in the two years prior to interview.

Percentage of adults holding view on change in national crime rate	2023/24	Change since 2008/09	Change since 2019/20	Change since 2021/22
A lot more / a little more	48%	Down from 52%	No change	Up from 38%
About the same	37%	No change	No change	Down from 43%
A lot less / a little less	4%	No change	Down from 6%	Down from 8%
Don’t know / refused	11%	Up from 8%	No change	No change
Combined: Less or same	41%	No change	Down from 45%	Down from 52%
Number of respondents	4,970	16,040	5,570	5,520

Variable: QS2AREAS.

Figure 11.2: A higher proportion of adults thought the crime rate had increased nationally compared to the crime rate in their local area.

Perceptions of changes in the crime rate locally and nationally in the two years prior to interview.

Variables: QS2AREA; QS2AREAS.

Further breakdowns and trends within groups over time are provided in Annex Table A18.

How safe did the public feel?

The majority of adults in Scotland said they felt very or fairly safe walking alone in their local area after dark (75%) and when in their home alone at night (95%). Both these measures of feelings of safety have increased from their 2008/09 baseline position, as shown in Figure 11.3 below.

Both the proportion feeling safe walking alone in their local area after dark and the proportion feeling safe in their home at night increased from 2008/09 to 2016/17, but has been stable over the latest years since then.

Figure 11.3: The proportion of adults who felt safe in the local area or at home alone has increased since 2008/09 but has been more stable lately.

Proportion of adults feeling very/fairly safe in local area and at home alone, 2008/09 to 2023/24.

Variables: QSFDARK; QSFNIGH.

Latest figures from the Crime Survey for England and Wales found a similar proportion of adults (79%) felt safe walking alone at night in the year ending March 2024.[3]

As shown in Figure 8.4, while the majority of adults across a range of population subgroups reported feeling safe when walking alone in their local area after dark and despite increases across most groups since 2008/09, there continues to be variations by factors such as sex, age, area deprivation and rurality in 2023/24. In summary:

• females and those living in the most deprived areas of Scotland were less likely to feel safe than males and those living in the rest of Scotland, respectively
• those who are disabled were also less likely to feel safe than those who are not disabled, as were victims of property or violent crimes compared to non-victims[4] and those living in an urban area compared to a rural area
• those aged 60 or over were less likely to feel safe than any other age group (69%)

Full results for both questions with breakdowns for key groups, including over time, are provided in Annex Tables A19 and A20.

Figure 11.4: There have been long term improvements in feelings of safety across a wide range of demographic and area characteristics.

Feelings of safety when walking alone in the local area after dark by demographic and area characteristics, 2008/09 to 2023/24.

Variable: QSFDARK.

Figure 11.5: Adults aged 60 and older continue to feel less safe walking alone after dark compared to all other age groups, despite long term improvements in feelings of safety.

Feelings of safety when walking alone in the local area after dark, by age, 2008/09 to 2023/24.

Variable: QSFDARK.

Looking at how safe respondents feel when home alone at night, overall the overwhelming majority (95%) of respondents say that they feel safe. However, again, some differences exist amongst the various demographic or geographic categories. For example:

• 91% of victims of property or violent crimes reported feeling safe in their home alone (compared to 96% of those who were not victims of these crimes)
• 93% of females (compared to 98% of males)
• The following sub-groups were also less likely to feel safe when home alone at night: those living in the most deprived areas compared to the rest of Scotland; and disabled people compared to non-disabled people

Over the shorter-term, the SCJS detected no change in either measure of perceived safety between 2021/22 and 2023/24 amongst the population groups discussed above, with the exception of those aged 25 to 44, which reduced from 96% to 93% (at home alone at night).

How common were specific crimes believed to be?

As well as being asked about the local and national crime rates, respondents were asked how common they thought a range of crimes and behaviours were in their area. Table 8.2 shows the issues asked about and the results for 2023/24.

Overall, most adults did not consider each issue to be a common occurrence in 2023/24, with some seen as more prevalent than others, for example:

• Around half of adults (48%) noted street drinking / drunken behaviour or under age drinking as being very or fairly common. This question was introduced within the latest survey so there is no available comparison with earlier years
• This was followed by drug dealing and drug abuse (46%) and then people behaving in an anti-social manner (34%)
• Fewer people viewed various types of non-sexual violence as common, such as: violence between individuals or gangs (13%), people being physically assaulted (12%), people being mugged / robbed (6%), and people being physically attacked because of their skin colour, etc. (5%).

Table 11.2 also indicates that adults were generally less likely to report problems as common in 2023/24 than when views were first collected on each matter, with perceptions showing stability since the previous SCJS in 2021/22.[5] The most notable outlier in this long term trend is the perceived prevalence of sexual assault, which has shown an increase since the 2008/09 SCJS from 3% to 6%.

With the exception of people carrying knives, which increased from 10% to 13%, all issues have shown no change since 2021/22 and all measures are at a similar level to the pre-covid position in 2019/20.

Table 11.2: The perceived prevalence of various crime types is generally lower than in 2008/09, but has remained stable in recent years.

Percentage who thought issue was very or fairly common in their local area with percentage change, where significant, since 2008/09, 2019/20 and 2021/22.

		Change since
Type of issue	2023/24	2008/09	2019/20	2021/22
Drug dealing and drug abuse	46%	No change	No change	No change
People behaving in an anti-social manner in public	34%	Down from 46%	No change	No change
Violence between groups of individuals or gangs	13%	Down from 26%	No change	No change
People being physically assaulted or attacked in the street or other public places	12%	Down from 19%	No change	No change
People having things stolen from their car or other vehicles	11%	Down from 20%	No change	No change
People having their car or other vehicles stolen	10%	Down from 15%	No change	No change
People being mugged or robbed	6%	Down from 10%	No change	No change
People being physically attacked because of their skin colour, ethnic origin or religion	5%	Down from 7%	No change	No change
People being sexually assaulted	5%	Up from 3%	No change	No change
Type of issue	2023/24	2009/10	2019/20	2021/22
People carrying knives	13%	Down from 22%	No change	Up from 10%
Type of issue	2023/24	2012/13	2019/20	2021/22
Deliberate damage to cars or other vehicles	17%	Down from 25%	No change	No change
Deliberate damage to people’s homes by vandals	9%	Down from 14%	No change	No change
Type of issue	2023/24	2016/17	2019/20	2021/22
People buying or selling smuggled or fake goods	12%	No change	No change	No change

Variable: QACO.

Note: comparisons are made to the year in which questions were first asked.

How concerned were the public about experiencing crime?

In line with findings in previous years, in 2023/24 the crimes which the public were most likely to say they were very or fairly worried about (from those asked about) were fraud-related issues.[6] More specifically, around half (49%) of adults said they were worried about someone using their credit or bank details to obtain money, goods or services, whilst two-fifths (40%) were worried about their identity being stolen. By comparison, 15% of adults were worried about being physically assaulted or attacked in the street or other public place, whilst 12% were concerned about being sexually assaulted.

In addition to the above issues, three further questions were included into the latest questionnaire. In 2023/24, the results of these questions were that:

• 21% of adults said they were worried about being followed by someone in a manner which caused fear, alarm or distress
• 20% of adults were worried about being threatened or verbally abused
• 7% of adults were worried about being physically attacked because of their skin colour, ethnic origin or religion

Figure 11.6 (and Annex Table 23) presents the results on worry about different crimes over time, for those questions which have been in the survey since 2008/09. It highlights that the proportion of adults who were very or fairly worried about experiencing each specific issue was lower in 2023/24 than the 2008/09 baseline. Looking more recently, all measures have shown no change since the last SCJS in 2021/22.

Figure 11.6: The proportion of adults who were very or fairly worried about experiencing specific issues fell for all categories since 2008/09.

Proportion of adults worried about experiencing each issue, 2008/09 and 2023/24.

Variables: QWORR_04 – QWORR_11.

In addition to the results shown in Figure 11.6 in relation to all adults, the survey also explores worry about vehicle-related crime amongst adults in households with access to a vehicle. The 2023/24 SCJS found that:

• 27% of adults (in vehicle-owning households) were worried about their car or other vehicle being damaged by vandals
• 21% were worried about things being stolen from their car or other vehicle
• 20% were worried about their car or other vehicle being stolen

A small change to questionnaire routing and the response options[7] for the questions relating to worry about vehicle crime in 2016/17 means that this year now forms the baseline for these questions, with worry about vehicle vandalism decreasing from 31% but worries about theft remaining unchanged. Prior to this questionnaire update, the three indicators had shown decreasing levels of worry between 2008/09 and 2014/15, as Annex Table 24 shows.

Annex Table 25 presents results on expectations around experiencing different crimes over time.

The Scottish Crime and Justice Survey collects information on the demographics of respondents. More detail on how crime and safety vary by age, sex, deprivation and rurality are available in the Annex Tables.

How were people affected by their concerns about crime?

Of those who reported being worried about experiencing some sort of crime, more than half (57%) reported that it did not prevent them from doing things they otherwise wanted to do ('at all'). In the latest survey, one in three (34%) said they were prevented from doing things 'a little', whilst 7% said it affected them 'quite a lot'. Only 2% said that it affected them doing things 'a great deal'.

Some groups were more likely than others to be affected. For example, females (50%), those in urban locations (54%), victims of property or violent crimes (57%), people living in the 15% most deprived areas of Scotland (47%), and disabled people (47%) were all less likely than comparator groups to say that their concerns had not prevented them from doing things they wanted to.

What steps did people take to reduce their chances of experiencing crime?

Almost three-quarters of adults (75%) reported adopting at least one preventative action to reduce their risk of becoming a victim of crime in 2023/24. As in previous years, the most commonly adopted precaution was concealing valuables to make them less visible (reported by 37%).

Figure 11.7: Nearly three-quarters of people have taken some preventative action to reduce their risk of being the victim of crime in 2023/24.

Actions taken to reduce the risk of experiencing crime in the last year.

Variable: QDONE.

Most actions have either increased or remained stable since first collected in 2012/13 and all, except asking to see official identification before letting someone into your home, have remained at a similar level since 2021/22. The largest increases over the long term include:

• concealing valuables to make them less visible (from 27% in 2012/13 to 37% in 2023/24
• avoiding certain areas (from 23% in 2012/13 to 33% in 2023/24)
• security device for home, for example alarm, window locks (16% in 2012/13 to 24% in 2023/24)
• not gone out at night / unaccompanied at night (from 15% in 2012/13 to 23% in 2023/24)

What did people think about their local community and the collective effort to prevent crime in their neighbourhood?

As shown in Table 11.3 below, most adults gave a positive account of people in their area and their efforts to prevent crime. For example, the vast majority of respondents indicated they had people nearby they could rely on to keep an eye on their home and that people would call the police if someone was acting suspiciously.

Table 11.3: The majority of adults feel positively about the people in their local area and their efforts to prevent crime.

Adults’ views on people and support in local area.

Percentage of adults	Agree (strongly / slightly)	Neither agree nor disagree	Disagree (strongly / slightly)	Don't know / refused
If my home was empty, I could count on one of my neighbours or other people in this area to keep an eye on it	89%	3%	6%	1%
The people who live in my local area can be relied upon to call the police if someone is acting suspiciously	81%	8%	8%	4%
I have neighbours or other people in my local area I feel I could turn to for advice or support	84%	6%	8%	1%
People in this local area pull together to prevent crime	59%	23%	12%	6%
People in my local area cannot be trusted	14%	13%	70%	3%

Variables LCPEOP_01 – LCPEOP_05.

The Scottish Crime and Justice Survey collects information on the demographics of respondents. More detail on how views local crime and safety vary by age, sex, deprivation and rurality are available in Annex Tables A19 to A25.

A further SCJS question asked respondents whether they thought broken glass in a park or playground would be removed fairly quickly. In 2023/24, 47% thought this would be the case with 32% disagreeing, and the remainder (21%) giving no clear view or saying don't know. The proportion agreeing in 2023/24 was in line with the baseline position from 2012/13 and the 2021/22 result.

How would people respond to witnessing crime?

The vast majority of people said they would phone the police and help to identify the perpetrator if they saw someone being robbed.

To explore potential individual level responses to witnessing crime and subsequent actions, survey respondents were asked how they would act in a scenario where they saw a man pushed to the ground and his wallet stolen.

Over nine-in-ten adults said they would be likely to call the police (91%) and willing to identify the person who had done it (89%) were they to witness such an event. A slightly smaller proportion, but still the vast majority, of people would be willing to give evidence against the accused in court (84%). The proportion of adults who said they would be willing to identify the person who had done it has decreased slightly since 2017/18 (94%). However, the rest of the findings were all unchanged compared to 2017/18, and have shown no change since 2021/22.