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2. Main points
- There were 49,655 incidents of domestic abuse recorded in 2007-08, compared to the 48,801 incidents recorded in 2006-07. This equates to just under a 2 per cent increase on 2006-07. This continues the steady increase in incidents reported since 2000-01, the first year covered by this particular bulletin. Half of the incidents recorded in 2007-08 (24,834) led to the recording of a crime or offence (Tables 1 and 1a).
- The most common crime or offence recorded in 2007-08 remained the offence of minor assault, 22 per cent (10,994) of all incidents, with breach of the peace, 16 per cent (7,736), the second most common ( Table 1).
- The overall incidence of domestic abuse reported to the police in Scotland in 2007-08 was 965 per 100,000 population ( Table 2). This compared to 954 per 100,000 in 2006-07 ( Table 15a).
- Incidents with a female victim and male perpetrator represented 85 per cent of all incidents of domestic abuse where this information was recorded, down by just under 2 percentage points from 2006-07. This percentage has gradually decreased since 2000-01, when it was 91 per cent (Tables 4 and 4a).
- For those incidents where information was available on whether or not the victim had previously been recorded as being a domestic abuse victim, 54 per cent of the cases involved known repeat victimisation compared to 57 per cent in 2006-07 (Tables 5 and 5a).
- When looking at the incidence per 100,000 population, females are at most risk of being victims of domestic abuse when aged between 22 and 25 years and males when aged between 31 and 35 years ( Table 7).
- Incidents of domestic abuse recorded by the police involving co-habitees or partners accounted for 44 per cent of all cases, with more cases recorded relating to co-habitees (24 per cent) than to partners (20 per cent). Incidents involving spouses accounted for a further 16 per cent (Tables 10 and 10a).
- Since 2000-01, the percentage of incidents involving spouses, co-habitees and partners has decreased from 69 per cent to 60 per cent. This has been driven by a decrease in the percentage of incidents involving spouses over this period, from 25 per cent in 2000-01 to 16 per cent in 2007-08 (Tables 10 and 10a).
- In 38 per cent of cases in 2007-08 the victim and perpetrator were ex-partners or ex-spouses, increasing from 30 per cent in 2000-01 (Tables 10 and 10a).
- The overwhelming majority of incidents of domestic abuse took place in the home/house (90 per cent of all incidents where the location was recorded). This was more likely if the victim and perpetrator cohabited i.e. were a `spouse' or `co-habitee' (95 per cent of all incidents where location was recorded) ( Table 11).
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