Violence Prevention Framework for Scotland: Monitoring Framework, 2025

4. Reduction in repeat violent victimisation

The VPF acknowledges violent crime is experienced disproportionately by those who have already been a victim of violence. A report, Repeat Violence in Scotland: A Qualitative Approach, was published in September 2023 – alongside three briefing papers: alcohol-related and community violence; poverty, violence and the drug economy; and gendered violence and victimisation – to increase understanding of repeat violence victimisation and inform implementation of the VPF.

This research emphasises the need to understand repeat violence as a dynamic process, in which different forms and contexts of violence interact and reinforce one another, and whereby categories of ‘victim’ and ‘perpetrator’ can overlap and shift, across the life course. The research distinguished three groups of people with lived experience of repeat violence:

• Unsettled lives: Comprising men and women aged 25 to 59, many currently homeless or living in supported accommodation, in recovery from addiction and experiencing deep poverty. They reported the most persistent patterns of repeat violence across the life course, often beginning in childhood. Men reported more physical violence, and women reported more sexual violence. Domestic violence was experienced by some men and almost all women. Recent experiences of repeat violence usually related to the drug economy
• Mutual violence: Mostly men, aged 16 to 44, living in social housing, predominantly reporting violence between young people in the community, due to neighbour disputes, or violence connected to the nighttime economy. Often fuelled by excessive amounts of alcohol, such violence was normalised for this group who were resistant to considering themselves as victims, despite sometimes receiving injuries
• Intermittent victimisation: Mostly women, aged 25 to 44. This group viewed violence as ‘out of the ordinary’, confined to particular contexts.  Most repeat violence experienced was either (a) domestic or sexual abuse confined to one relationship or (b) multiple, unrelated incidents of sexual and/or physical violence usually starting in their teens and mostly perpetrated by peers or acquaintances, and sometimes strangers. This group reported alcohol and drug problems or recreational substance use, commonly presented as a means of coping with victimisation

This indicator theme goes some way to monitor trends in the prevalence of repeat violent victimisation (those who experience two or more violent crimes), however the research on repeat violence in Scotland found that only a small proportion of participants had reported experiences of victimisation to the police, and fewer had their cases taken forward. This highlights that repeat violence is likely to be underreported and higher than police recorded crime reports. Furthermore, the proxy measure used here has limitations in terms of monitoring the experiences of the three groups identified above as the sample for the measure does not include participants living in insecure or group accommodation, and does not include findings from the SCJS partner abuse module where experiences of domestic abuse are more likely to be reported.

4.1 Proportion of adults experiencing two or more incidents of violent crime

Figure 9: The majority (61%) of violent crime in Scotland is experienced by repeat victims; the proportion of adults experiencing violent crime more than once during a year has decreased since 2008-09 but has not changed significantly in recent years.

Proportions of adults experiencing two or more incidents of violent crime, Scotland, 2008-09 to 2023-24.

Source: Scottish Government - Scottish Crime and Justice Survey 2023/24.

Victims of repeat violence experience violence at higher rates than those who experience one violent crime. Less than 1 in every 100 adults (0.9%) were victims of repeated incidents of violence (i.e. two or more incidents), but their experiences accounted for the majority (61%) of violent crime in 2023-24.

Overall, 2.0% of adults were victims of a single violent incident in 2023-24, while 0.9% experienced repeat victimisation (two or more incidents) and 0.3% of adults were high-frequency repeat victims, experiencing five or more violent incidents. Repeat victims averaged 3.5 violent crimes each.

The proportion of adults experiencing repeat victimisation has decreased since 2008-09 (from 1.6% to 0.9% in 2023-24) but has not changed significantly in recent years.