Recorded Crime in Scotland: March 2021

Official Statistics on crimes and offences recorded by the police in Scotland for March 2021.


Tables

Table 1: Crimes recorded by the police, Scotland, March 2020 to March 2021

Table 2: Offences recorded by the police, Scotland, March 2020 and March 2021

Table 3: Crimes recorded by the police by local authority, Scotland, March 2020 and March 2021

Table 4: Crimes recorded by the police, Scotland, April 2019 to March 2020 and April 2020 to March 2021

Table 5: Offences recorded by the police, Scotland, April 2019 to March 2020 and April 2020 to March 2021

Notes for these tables

  • The symbol 'n/r' is used to denote where a percentage change figure is not reported. This is done if the denominator is less than ten as any resulting figure may be misleading.
  • Please note that tables 1, 2, 4 and 5 can be accessed at local authority level online via the following link: Recorded Crime in Scotland: March 2021
Table 1: Crimes recorded by the police, Scotland, March 2020 to March 2021
Crime group March 2020 March 2021 % change since March 2020
Total crimes 18,874 19,148 1%
Non-sexual crimes of violence 702 795 13%
Homicide etc. 9 7 n/r
Attempted murder & serious assault 302 262 -13%
Robbery 163 152 -7%
Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 110 150 36%
Other violence 118 224 90%
Sexual crimes 1,106 1,278 16%
Rape & attempted rape 152 225 48%
Sexual assault 383 373 -3%
Crimes associated with prostitution 8 6 n/r
Other sexual crimes 563 674 20%
Crimes of dishonesty 8,356 7,684 -8%
Housebreaking 1,128 661 -41%
Theft by opening a lockfast place (OLP) 116 100 -14%
Theft from a motor vehicle by OLP 282 142 -50%
Theft of a motor vehicle 450 310 -31%
Shoplifting 2,147 1,706 -21%
Other theft 2,870 2,593 -10%
Fraud 1,010 1,764 75%
Other dishonesty 353 408 16%
Fire-raising, vandalism etc. 3,897 3,753 -4%
Fire-raising 186 220 18%
Vandalism etc. 3,711 3,533 -5%
Other crimes 4,813 5,638 17%
Crimes against public justice 1,520 2,094 38%
Handling offensive weapons 797 717 -10%
Not used in other criminal activity 353 321 -9%
Used in other criminal activity 444 396 -11%
Drugs 2,480 2,822 14%
Other 16 5 -69%

1. The total figure for recorded crime excludes the new crimes being recorded under the recently enacted coronavirus legislation. Please see the Crimes recorded under coronavirus legislation section for more information.

Table 2: Offences recorded by the police, Scotland, March 2020 and March 2021
Crime group March 2020 March 2021 % change since March 2020
Total offences 18,359 19,772 8%
Miscellaneous offences 9,755 9,797 0%
Common assault 4,449 4,066 -9%
Breach of the peace etc. 3,845 3,885 1%
Drunkenness and other disorderly conduct 348 413 19%
Urinating etc. 123 61 -50%
Other miscellaneous offences 990 1,372 39%
Motor vehicle offences 8,604 9,975 16%
Dangerous and careless driving 863 933 8%
Driving under the influence 552 627 14%
Speeding 1,758 2,294 30%
Unlawful use of vehicle 3,084 3,849 25%
Vehicle defect offences 442 493 12%
Seat belt offences 117 132 13%
Mobile phone offences 101 117 16%
Other motor vehicle offences 1,687 1,530 -9%
Table 3: Crimes recorded by the police by local authority, Scotland, March 2020 and March 2021
  March 2020 March 2021 % change since March 2020
Aberdeen City 884 1,114 26%
Aberdeenshire 438 559 28%
Angus 243 320 32%
Argyll & Bute 178 222 25%
Clackmannanshire 149 208 40%
Dumfries & Galloway 620 586 -5%
Dundee City 738 863 17%
East Ayrshire 443 449 1%
East Dunbartonshire 247 252 2%
East Lothian 267 327 22%
East Renfrewshire 154 160 4%
Edinburgh City 2,081 2,091 0%
Falkirk 617 536 -13%
Fife 1,106 1,123 2%
Glasgow City 3,356 2,943 -12%
Highland 604 534 -12%
Inverclyde 303 311 3%
Midlothian 299 303 1%
Moray 218 236 8%
Na h-Eileanan Siar 22 41 86%
North Ayrshire 542 519 -4%
North Lanarkshire 1,355 1,436 6%
Orkney Islands 17 29 71%
Perth & Kinross 386 373 -3%
Renfrewshire 570 532 -7%
Scottish Borders 242 341 41%
Shetland Islands 27 51 89%
South Ayrshire 407 403 -1%
South Lanarkshire 1,142 1,072 -6%
Stirling 242 266 10%
West Dunbartonshire 310 377 22%
West Lothian 667 571 -14%
Scotland1 18,874 19,148 1%

1. The total figure for recorded crime excludes the new crimes being recorded under the recently enacted coronavirus legislation. Please see the Crimes recorded under coronavirus legislation section for more information.

Table 4: Crimes recorded by the police, Scotland, April 2019 to March 2020 and April 2020 to March 2021
Crime group April 2019 to March 2020 April 2020 to March 2021 % change since previous year
Total crimes1 244,433 228,502 -7%
Non-sexual crimes of violence 9,323 8,797 -6%
Homicide etc. 121 95 -21%
Attempted murder & serious assault 4,148 3,353 -19%
Robbery 1,731 1,685 -3%
Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 1,690 1,569 -7%
Other violence 1,633 2,095 28%
Sexual crimes 13,496 12,628 -6%
Rape & attempted rape 2,361 2,209 -6%
Sexual assault 5,009 3,936 -21%
Crimes associated with prostitution 96 54 -44%
Other sexual crimes 6,030 6,429 7%
Crimes of dishonesty 109,574 93,704 -14%
Housebreaking 12,855 9,896 -23%
Theft by opening a lockfast place (OLP) 1,732 1,211 -30%
Theft from a motor vehicle by OLP 2,960 2,096 -29%
Theft of a motor vehicle 4,934 4,323 -12%
Shoplifting 30,572 20,496 -33%
Other theft 40,809 33,155 -19%
Fraud 10,957 17,818 63%
Other dishonesty 4,755 4,709 -1%
Fire-raising, vandalism etc. 48,166 42,708 -11%
Fire-raising 2,638 2,596 -2%
Vandalism etc. 45,528 40,112 -12%
Other crimes 63,874 70,665 11%
Crimes against public justice 19,279 25,224 31%
Handling offensive weapons 9,668 9,748 1%
Not used in other criminal activity 4,465 4,528 1%
Used in other criminal activity 5,203 5,220 0%
Drugs 34,714 35,541 2%
Other 213 152 -29%

1. The total figure for recorded crime excludes the new crimes being recorded under the recently enacted coronavirus legislation. Please see the Crimes recorded under coronavirus legislation section for more information.

Table 5: Offences recorded by the police, Scotland, April 2019 to March 2020 and April 2020 to March 2021
Crime group April 2019 to March 2020 April 2020 to March 2021 % change since previous year
Total offences 249,378 231,717 -7%
Miscellaneous offences 128,672 122,522 -5%
Common assault 57,715 51,081 -11%
Breach of the peace etc. 50,386 49,307 -2%
Drunkenness and other disorderly conduct 5,295 5,509 4%
Urinating etc. 2,226 822 -63%
Other miscellaneous offences 13,050 15,803 21%
Motor vehicle offences 120,706 109,195 -10%
Dangerous and careless driving 11,484 11,105 -3%
Driving under the influence 6,611 8,058 22%
Speeding 28,431 21,107 -26%
Unlawful use of vehicle 39,087 40,309 3%
Vehicle defect offences 6,929 6,188 -11%
Seat belt offences 2,631 1,664 -37%
Mobile phone offences 2,226 1,561 -30%
Other motor vehicle offences 23,307 19,203 -18%

Contact

Email: justice_analysts@gov.scot

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