Domestic abuse recorded by the police in Scotland

Scotland’s Chief Statistician has published Domestic Abuse Recorded by the Police in Scotland, 2010-11 and 2011-12. The publication presents key statistics on the number of incidents of domestic abuse recorded by police forces in Scotland.

The main findings include:

• There were 59,847 incidents of domestic abuse recorded by the police in Scotland in 2011-12, compared to the 55,698 incidents recorded in 2010-11. This equates to a 7% increase in the number of incidents recorded in 2011-12 as compared to 2010-11.
• 54% of the incidents recorded by the police in 2011-12 (32,369) led to a recording of a crime or offence; this was down from 58% (32,370) of incidents in 2010-11.
• Where a crime or offence was recorded in 2011-12, the most common was common assault, accounting for 44% (14,154) of all incidents where a crime or offence was recorded. The second most common crime or offence was threatening or abusive behaviour at 17% (5,453) of all incidents where a crime of offence was recorded.
• Incidents with a female victim and a male perpetrator represented 81% (46,439) of all domestic abuse incidents in 2011-12 where this information was recorded, the same as in 2010-11. The percentage of domestic abuse incidents with a male victim and female perpetrator represented 17% (9,569) of all; domestic abuse incidents in 2011-12.
• When looking at the number of incidents per 100,000 population in 2011-12, females are at most risk of being victims of domestic abuse when aged between 22 and 25 years old and males when aged between 31 and 35 years old.