Sex crimes in Scotland at second highest level in 54 years - here's why
Statistics show 14,892 sex crimes were recorded in 2024/25
The number of sex crimes recorded in Scotland is at its second highest level since 1971, as a sharp rise in cyber offences was revealed.
Statistics show 14,892 such offences were recorded in 2024/25 - an increase of 45 per cent on a decade ago.
Cases of rape and attempted rape have jumped by 60 per cent over the same timeframe, from 1,809 to 2,897 incidents.
Meanwhile, domestic abuse rose by 26 per cent in the space of a year and has increased by 53 per cent since 2019/20.
However, the recording of overall crime remains below the position immediately prior to the pandemic (2019/20) and down 51 per cent from its peak in 1991, according to statisticians.
Scottish Labour justice spokeswoman Pauline McNeill said “Violence against women and girls is a scourge on our society, but these shocking figures suggest things are getting worse instead of better.
“The SNP must urgently investigate these appalling trends and establish what is driving the rise in these heinous crimes.
“We need to use every lever of government to tackle the epidemic of violence against women and keep our communities safe – from building a justice system that protects women to making our communities safer to delivering programmes across our education system to tackle toxic attitudes head on.”
‘Sickening’ attacks
Conservative MSP Tess White called the rise in rapes and attempted rapes “sickening”.
The Scottish Government said a number of legislative and procedural changes should be kept in mind when reviewing longer-term trends. The reporting of historic crimes will also have an impact.
Information from Police Scotland suggests 25 per cent of sex crimes in 2024/25 were recorded at least one year after they occurred, with 335 crimes of rape and attempted rape and 153 crimes of sexual assault committed prior to December 2010.
Meanwhile, around 27 per cent of sex crimes occurred online. There has been a 28 per cent increase in the number of ‘indecent photos of children’ crimes recorded over the past decade.
At least 34 per cent of the sex crimes recorded by police in 2024/25 related to a victim under the age of 18.
Cyber crime has doubled since 2019/20, according to the new data, but damage and reckless behaviour crimes decreased to their lowest level since 1976.
Little change in some crimes
There was little change in overall crimes recorded by Police Scotland, decreasing by less than 1 per cent from 299,790 to 299,111 over the past year, and little change in non-sexual violent crime, falling by less than 1 per cent, from 71,473 to 71,170.
Levels of non-sexual crimes of violence have dipped slightly over the year and continue to be 23 per cent lower than in 2006/07, with serious assault and attempted murder now at their lowest level since 1977.
The detection of overall crime by police has increased, with clear-up rates rising to 56 per cent.
SNP Justice Secretary Angela Constance said the figures showed Scotland “continues to be safe place to live with reported crime falling by more than half since 1991”.
But she said: “I am concerned these figures also show a rise in reported sexual crimes. Multiple factors will lie behind this and our action to tackle sexual offending includes increasing confidence in the justice system so more victims come forward, improving support for victims and modernising the law on sexual offences.”