Domestic abuse up in Scotland for fourth year running
Police reports in 19-20 had an increase of 4% compared to the previous year.
Last updated 22nd Jun 2021
A new police report into domestic violence has revealed a 4% jump in incidents in the last year, meaning a fourth year of increases in Scotland.
Police Scotland recorded 115 incidents per 10,000 population in 2019-20, with Dundee showing the highest levels, followed by Clackmannanshire and Glasgow City.
Over four fifths of incidents had a female victim and a male accused, this was the same the previous year.
The Police say the frequent type of crime within these incidents was common assault, accounting for 34% of reports, followed by breach of the peace.
The report also reveals that incidents are higher on the weekends, Saturday and Sundays accounted for just over a third of all instances.
And 88% of all incidents took place in a home or dwelling.
Domestic abuse charities and services have reported high levels of reports due to the pandemic, with spikes whenever a lockdown comes to an end.
Dr Marsha Scott from Scottish Women's Aid tells us that these figures are only the tip of the iceberg:
"I remind everybody that from the Scottish crime and justice survey that only about 11% of women disclose their abuse to Police.
"I think we would have been surprised if that figure had gone down, but it's so important for people not to conflate this figure with how much domestic abuse there actually is in Scotland.
"Our general reaction is just dismay at the massive scale of domestic abuse in Scotland this represents."