SAS Chapter 12: page 2

The Scottish Abstract of Statistics No 26,1998

12A recorded crimes and offences

Table 12A1 Crimes and offences recorded and percentage cleared up by the police, 1988, 1990, 1995-1997

	1988		1990		1995		1996		1997
	Recorded	Cleared up(%)	Recorded	Cleared up (%)	Recorded	Cleared up (%)	Recorded	Cleared up (%)	Recorded	Cleared up (%)
Total crimes and offences^{1, 2}	843,536		941,722		927,566		903,944		907,525

Total crimes¹	457,921	32	518,523	30	475,697	35	451,956	37	420,642	39
Non-sexual crimes of violence	17,871	67	18,234	68	21,119	65	21,537	67	19,164	68
Serious assault etc.^{3, 4}	7,694	64	6,287	65	6,920	54	6,988	57	6,053	60
Handling offensive weapons	4,487	99	5,135	99	6,465	99	6,822	99	5,989	99
Robbery	4,150	29	4,651	28	5,330	29	5,254	29	4,484	28
Other	1,540	90	2,161	89	2,404	82	2,473	84	2,638	84
Crimes of indecency	5,057	67	6,034	72	5,547	74	5,676	76	7,147	75
Sexual assault	1,322	64	1,458	67	1,638	66	1,729	69	1,979	65
Lewd & indecent behaviour	2,384	52	2,624	57	2,381	67	2,465	68	3,014	66
Other	1,351	97	1,952	97	1,528	96	1,482	98	2,154	96
Crimes of dishonesty	344,509	29	385,152	26	321,201	28	295,441	30	267,207	31
Housebreaking	91,411	18	101,721	16	74,235	17	64,470	18	55,471	18
Theft by opening a lockfast place	77,503	14	92,351	12	66,539	13	60,472	15	51,131	15
Theft of a motor vehicle	26,395	26	36,103	24	37,514	24	34,161	25	28,646	26
Shoplifting	25,503	81	26,798	80	27,952	79	26,927	78	26,322	77
Other theft	91,210	22	97,825	18	87,716	18	82,576	19	79,612	19
Fraud	22,392	71	19,554	70	17,093	81	16,081	79	15,734	75
Other	10,095	84	10,800	81	10,152	87	10,754	82	10,291	88
Fire-raising, vandalism etc	73,518	23	86,457	20	86,546	21	89,025	21	81,000	22
Fire-raising	3,657	22	4,324	18	3,299	19	3,306	20	2,786	19
Vandalism etc	69,861	23	82,133	20	83,247	21	85,719	21	78,214	22
Other crimes	16,966	99	22,646	99	41,284	100	40,277	99	46,124	100
Crimes against public justice¹	11,565	99	12,918	100	16,359	100	16,148	100	16,641	100
Drugs	5,213	99	9,564	99	24,773	100	23,992	99	29,386	100
Other	188	85	164	82	152	80	137	82	97	80

Total offences²	385,615		423,199		451,869		451,988		486,883
Miscellaneous offences	124,878	89	126,960	88	134,368	88	146,086	89	155,900	90
Petty assault⁴	36,557	76	39,630	74	46,604	74	47,605	75	50,088	77
Breach of the peace	55,900	95	57,692	94	66,088	93	70,830	94	73,061	94
Drunkenness	12,185	100	11,670	100	9,737	100	9,608	100	9,697	100
Other	20,236	92	17,968	90	11,939	95	18,043	97	23,054	98
Motor vehicle offences²	260,737	..	296,239	..	317,501	..	305,902	..	330,983	..
Dangerous/careless driving	23,487	..	25,291	..	18,729	..	17,347	..	16,319	..
Drunk driving	11,353	..	11,443	..	10,719	..	11,796	..	11,208	..
Speeding	64,828	..	89,965	..	85,141	..	82,355	..	91,922	..
Unlawful use of vehicle	68,656	..	70,588	..	83,416	..	79,123	..	79,130	..
Vehicle defect offences	47,735	..	47,477	..	56,321	..	53,451	..	60,136	..
Other	44,678	..	51,475	..	63,175	..	61,830	..	72,268	..

Source: SOHD, CCJ Statistics Unit Branch 2

1 A legislative change which came into force on 1 April 1996 resulted in a revision to the historical data. The offence of "offending while on bail" is now regarded as an aggravating factor at sentencing rather than an offence in its own right.
2 Certain motor vehicle offences are not always recorded in cases where the police are not able to clear up the offence (eg speeding offences where the driver is untraceable). Clear up rates for motor offences in these circumstances are artificial. Thus clear up rates for the motor vehicle offence categories and clear up rates for Total crimes and offences and Total offences which include motor vehicle offences are not included.

3 Including homicide.
4 The definition of serious assault changed in January 1990. It is estimated there would be 1,150 fewer cases recorded in 1989, using the revised definition, with a corresponding rise in petty assaults.