Homicide Numbers Fall to Record Low

These findings were contained in the publication, Homicide in Scotland, 2015-16, which provides information on crimes of homicide recorded by the police in Scotland in 2015-16.

Key Findings

Key statistics revealed by the report include:

• Between 2014-15 and 2015-16, the number of homicide cases recorded by the police in Scotland decreased by 8% (five cases) from 62 to 57. This is the lowest number of recorded homicide cases for a single twelve-month period since 1976, the first year for which comparable data are available.
• Over the ten-year period from 2006-07 to 2015-16, the number of homicide cases in Scotland fell by 52% (62 cases) from 119 to 57.
• As at 31st March 2016, only one case of homicide recorded in 2015-16 was unresolved.
• In 2015-16, 65 persons were accused of homicide and 86% (56) of them were male. Of the 57 victims, 72% (41) were also male.

Offensive Weapons

The report also reveals that a sharp instrument remains the most common method of killing in Scotland and accounted for 51% of homicides (or 29) in 2015-16. Nearly all these cases (26 out of 29) involve a knife. While most of the accused had an unknown status for alcohol and drugs, 31% (or 20 people) were apparently identified by the police as being under the influence of alcohol or alcohol and drugs.

In the past year (2014-15 to 2015-16) there has been a 5% decrease in crimes of handling an offensive weapon and a fall of 69% since 2006-07, while the number of young people under 19 convicted of handling an offensive weapon fell from 811 in 2006-07, down to 146 in 2014-15.

The average custodial sentence length for handling offensive weapons has tripled over the last ten years, from 118 days in 2005-06 to 370 days in 2014-15, and earlier this year the Government increased the maximum custodial sentence available to the courts for handling offensive weapons and knife possession offences from four to five years.

Violence Reduction

The Scottish Government says that since 2006-07 it has invested more than £10.5 million in a range of violence reduction programmes during which time non-sexual violent crime has more than halved (down 52%) – including a 45% fall in serious assault and attempted murder - and is at its second lowest level since 1974. This is supported by the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey, which shows a 41% fall between 2008-09 and 2014-15 in the number of violent incidents experienced by the people of Scotland (including those not reported to the police).

"We welcome the fall in homicides to the lowest level recorded in modern times but we must never forget the impact a homicide has on the victims' family, friends and on their communities,” commented Deputy Chief Constable Johnny Gwynne. “We are committed to working with partners to ensure that prevention work through education and community initiatives continues across the country to endeavour, with the support of communities, to drive these figures down even further.”

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