Crime: introduction

Crime, through its impact on victims and through its indirect effects on the wider community and their perception of crime, clearly has strong links to health and well-being.

In recent years, overall recorded crime levels have dropped to their lowest levels in nearly a quarter of a century. However it is accepted that often crime is not reported and so recorded crime numbers only provide a partial picture of true crime levels. Bearing this caveat in mind, the upward trend in recorded levels of specific crimes is worth noting. Serious violent crime, drugs related crime and 'fire-raising & vandalism' have all risen in recent years across Scotland. Over the same period there have been reductions in recorded domestic housebreaking and car related crimes at a Scottish level. These are, however, overall national trends that are not necessarily consistent throughout Scotland.

Clearly the nature, frequency and 'profile' of different crimes occurring within neighbourhoods will impact on people's concerns about crime and their feelings of safety about living in their particular neighbourhood. The Scottish Crime Survey and the Scottish Household Survey are the main sources for information on people's perceptions of crime and fear of crime in communities.

The data pages provide some examples of data on crime levels, crime victimisation and perceptions of crime within Scotland, while the key data sources provides links to crime related information on other web sites. It is also worth noting that a related section of this site provides detailed information on drugs misuse within Scotland.